


Twisted Turn

by GinellaEvans



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Family, Feelings, Feels, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2018-09-15 18:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9250883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinellaEvans/pseuds/GinellaEvans
Summary: Damian wouldn't know how they had ended like this. But, ever since that Christmas, everything had turn upside down. A massacre that happens in Gotham forces him to recover what they had before Batman kills himself... But it is not going to be an easy business. After all, he caused part of the problem.Warning: OCs, some boyxboy love and language for sure (just Jason)!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking of doing the same I did in FanFiction but then... I kind of just didn't because... well, things happen.  
> So, as the tags say, this story is going to have a loot of genres. The idea would be to post it just in one website: I would prefer FanFiction because I'm more active there but, if I receive here more reviews (and I said REVIEWS, not kudos) I will maybe think about just posting it here.  
> Anyway... Welcome everyone! A few things to say first: To the ones that are ghost readers, I would very much appreciate a word or something. A little review does not cost you that much (Actually you maybe waste 5 minutes maximum while I have to spend 1 hour or more in making this story)  
> Also, English is not my mother tongue language so any correction is accepted :)  
> Oh! This is my first time writing for Batman fandom so don't kill me too much if someone is a bit OOC (?)... I've tried hard.  
> Enjoy!!

Damian wouldn’t know how they had ended like this. It had started three years ago, with a ‘little’ discussion that had happened between all the male robins during winter, two days after Christmas. He didn’t remember what the conversation was about or what they were talking about but, when Dick had gone to take the dessert from the kitchen, Jason and himself had started pricking and taunting Tim. He did remember that a lot of things that they have said had been quite awful and undeserved, but Tim had been quiet for a long time until he had finally exploded when Dick had come back…

_“I’m done! With both of you!” he shouted._

_“Tim, don’t shout, come on. I’m sure Jay and Dami didn’t mean anything of it…” Dick said when he appeared. He didn’t know what they had been saying but he felt more secure trying to calm things down._

_“Of course they mean it, Dick! And I will shout if I want to! I’m sick of them! I’m sick of bear them!” Tim got up, furious “I’m out of here”_

_“Tt”_

_“Yeah, run away, Timmy…” Jason said._

_“Jason!” Dick advised and Jason rolled his eyes. Dick sighed “I will talk to him tomorrow”_

_“Why bother?” Damian muttered, crossing his arms. No one answered to that._

_At the next day, Damian was the first on waking up and he was going to practice before taking breakfast when he saw Tim and his father in the corridor talking. Tim had a bag in his back and a suitcase in one of his hands. Damian just stopped and hid before they could see him._

_“I’m not going to stop you Tim but I thought you were comfortable here” his father was saying “Are you sure you want to go now, anyway? Alfred is going to make roast chicken for lunch”_

_“I’m sure” Tim smiled a bit, but there was something behind that smile that look like sadness “Look, Bruce. It’s not about you or Alfred, okay? I love being here and I love staying with you… But…”_

_“Did you and your brothers argue again?” he asked, concerned._

_“It’s not only about the argument or them being right or wrong. I’m feeling like a ghost with them. Dick always ends protecting them somehow and I know that he doesn’t do it in purpose but I can’t help the feeling on going in this alone. Jason and Damian don’t like me and I’m sick of all the time holding on. I have the right to be here if I’m invited”_

_“I could always talk to them” he suggested._

_“No, it wouldn’t fix anything. Just leave it, okay? I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine” he shook his head “Please, tell Dick that I’m sorry”_

_“Of course. I’ll miss you, son” he hugged him and Tim returned it._

_“I’ll miss you too”_

Like that, he had gone away. Dick had been pretty awful when he knew that Tim had left while Jason had given clearly state that ‘Timmy’ could do whatever he wanted and that probably it was the best. Damian had not mentioned anything in that moment. Sure, he had been happy of having ‘Drake’ out of the house but there was no point on saying that. His own father, Alfred and Dick would be the ones on missing him the most but they would live, that was something he had been sure about.

Little did he know how wrong he had been. Rather, things only got worse after Tim’s departure.

Some weeks later, everyone began to go to their own paths. For starters, Dick had had to leave Gotham because the Titans needed someone more in the team and Tim had not shown up since winter so, obviously, Dick had accepted to help them. Above all, one of the reason Dick left (if someone asked Damian) was that he was still feeling awful and was still blaming himself for what had happened that day. On the other hand, Jason had just stopped passing by the manor and no one knew what he was doing even if he was still living in Gotham but, if Damian had to bet, he would say that he had gone back to killing criminals. On contrast, the girls were doing more or less okay; the worst case being Stephanie since she was still depressed about Tim leaving the city. Cassandra and Barbara were both still doing their work but they were obviously mad at the three of them. And Damian himself… well, he was still helping his father as Robin at night and going to the high school in the morning because his father had insisted on it, believing that he would win social skills there. Actually, he was the one that had less problems.

Still, even if there were that problems, nothing could be compared until what had happened that year. Some months ago, the Joker got away and kidnapped a lot of people that watched a humor show that was very famous in television and that it wasn’t even funny at all.

The thing was that… both Batman and Robin had been searching him and the people kidnapped for days, but, when they found the place, it was too late for a lot of people. Many were already dead and even if they were able to rescue the little group of people alive and sent the Joker to Arkham again… They had failed somehow. At least, Bruce had felt it like that. And Damian had understood the feeling of his father for a week, maybe two… even three. But this (THIS) was starting to worry him a bit. It had already passed three months. THREE. And his father was still strange. He was eating less, talking less, sleeping less, getting out as Bruce Wayne less, going on solo more, getting hurt more…

“I’m serious, Richard. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve done everything you suggest —yes, I also gave him the stupid hug” Damian snorted.

“I’m sorry, Dami. I’m still out in a mission with the titans and I don’t know when I will be back. Besides, I don’t know Bruce that much” Dick sighed.

“You’re the one that stayed longer and you’re telling me that you don’t know him that much?!”

“I know some parts of him, but he has never been so dark with me” Dick explained “And, in any case, I would need a lot of collaboration”

“So, no one can help me?” Damian looked already exasperated and hadn’t listened the last part.  

“Has Alfred tried to talk to him?” he suddenly asked.

“Yes, Richard. Pennyworth has already tried and has not been successful” he sighed “Don’t you know someone who can help in this? I’m afraid that father will cross that line he normally forbids to pass”

“Wait, what?! Has he killed?!”

“Of course not, don’t be dumb. However, he has been ruthless lately and I don’t know… The idea has seemed to be on father’s head sometimes”

“Okay, okay… This is bad. This is very bad. This is really bad. Oh, god. What the fucking hell I am going to do? Oh my…” Dick started panicking.

“Richard, stop panicking and give me a solution!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Okay… I know there is one that has seen this side of Bruce but… knowing how it all ended last time we saw him, I’m not sure of what he might do…” he said “Even if he help him…”  

“Drake” Damian mentioned in a whisper and Dick nodded “And do you know where he is, by any chance?”

“In Blüdhaven, he got a flat there” he answered.

“Do you have the address?”

“Are you thinking on going?”

“Well, do you have a better idea?” Damian asked crossing his arms. Dick shook his head “Then…”

“Fine, I’ll give you the address. But please, try not to kill him” he agreed and then passed the address to him via writing.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to enter, try to kill him and later asked his help, right?”  Damian asked, a bit sarcastic, while coping the address in a paper.

“I know you’re better now, just… Try not to make him mad. Oh, what are you going to tell Bruce to get away?”

“I don’t know, I’ll think of something. I’ll go to see Drake on the weekend, so I could say to my father that you had some free time and that you are going to stop in Blüdhaven for the weekend. I could think of something different but for the moment…”

“Okay… I suppose that can work. Take care, Dami” Dick waved a goodbye to the camera.

“Sure, bye Richard…” And Damian turned off the camera and did the same to the laptop with a little sigh, looking to the paper where he had put the address.

It had been a long time since he had seen ‘Drake’ and he wondered what would happen. More than anything, he felt bad for saying so many undeserved things. But, in any case, he didn’t remember what he had said and, above all, he didn’t know what to say to him so… how was he supposed to get him back to Gotham, to begin with? 


	2. Chapter 2

On the Thursday of that week, he said to his father the little lie and, though he had first doubted that he would fool his father, lately it looked like he was very distracted and just accepted what his son had said and advised him to take clothes with him and prepare things by now. That same day he bought the ticket to the city and when Saturday came, Damian was already on the bus station, waiting for the bus to appear, with the address in one of his pockets. He didn’t have to wait too much because in a moment the bus appeared and he went in. The journey last at least one hour and a half until they reached the station of Blüdhaven. There, Damian got off and after prowling the city for a bit, he asked to a couple where he could find the place. They guided him, he thanked them, and he went to take the indicated directions. In the end, he found the building and biting his lip, he pressed the bell to the flat that Dick had told him.

“Yes?” he finally heard.

“Drake, can I go in?” Damian said. He really wondered now if he would open. Dick was right about that he had left with the things well heated because of Jason and him so… “Drake?”

“…Why, what do you want?” he said  

“There was a problem… Just, please, can I come in?”

“… Fine” The door opened with a sound and Damian let out a sigh, entering the flat and going towards the lift.

He pushed the button to the floor and later, he went to the only door that was opened. Damian noticed that Tim was leaning against the door, his icy blue eyes looking to Damian with coldness and hostility.

“Hello Drake” Damian ended saying because the silence was starting to annoy him.

“What are you doing here, Damian?” he asked separating himself from the door frame and going inside, which made Damian to follow him and close the door behind him.

“As I have said, there’s a problem in Gotham and we could use your assistance” Damian informed while watching his ‘brother’ going to the kitchen and getting out with an almost empty cup of what it looked like coffee.

“What, are you unable to do something? Are you not smart enough suddenly? Haven’t Dick already figure it out? Oh, wait, I have something better…” he said bitterly.

“Drake! Could you at least listen to me first?!” Damian shouted and this one looked at him dismissively “Look, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important, would I?”

“Fine, what is it?” Tim sighed and sat on the sofa.

“It’s… about father. He’s strange. Stranger than usual” Damian explained, changing his weight from one leg to the other and let out a sigh when he saw Tim raising an eyebrow “Okay… about three months ago, we ran into the Joker. He targeted a group of people and kidnapped them. The thing is, when we found them, it was very late for a lot of them. We could just save a few and sent the Joker to Arkham but since then… he has been behaving very strange. He eats less, sleeps less, goes out alone more than usual… And the times I go out with him, he seems… ruthless and careless. I’ve done everything that Richard suggested but every day is just worst that the one before”

Tim, who had been at the beginning of the conversation not really interested on what his ‘brother’ had to say, was now listening with a concerned look and in silence.

“And he has been like this for three months, you say” he said and Damian nodded “And what do you expect me to do, Damian?”

“How should I know? Fix it, somehow. I don’t care” he spitted out.

“I thought I was useless and that you could live without me. Oh, and that I was not needed, that all of you could do everything on your own” he stated.

So, he still remembered some things. Okay, maybe Jason and he had crossed the line but how he could remember what they had said? Damian himself couldn’t.

“Okay, that was something Jason and I said three years ago, and maybe, just maybe, we were wrong about that” he tried to say.

“Maybe?” Tim frowned.

“Okay, not maybe. It was wrong and undeserved” he agreed “But can you help or not?”

“I can help”

“Will you help, then?” he despaired “Because, Drake, I know Todd and I hurt you, okay? But this isn’t about me or Todd. It’s about helping father. Once you have done that, you can do whatever you want”

“Okay, fine; you’re right. I should help Bruce. It’s the least I can do for him” he agreed finally.

“Thanks” Damian murmured and stretched his arms “Well, I should go. I don’t want to bother you”

“Where are you going? Someone’s house?” Tim asked because, yes, he had seen the bag in Damian’s hand and he was already supposing that he was staying in Blüdhaven.

“Ahm… No. I was going to search some hotel, hostel or anything” he answered, because lying would be stupid.

“And what Bruce said to that?”

“Actually, he thinks I’m with Richard” he looked away.

“He must be pretty distracted to had not noticed the lie…” he commented with a little smile and Damian shrugged “So… you haven’t booked anything”.

“No, Drake…” he huffed.

“You should have. We’re near Easter and this city ends crowded two or three weeks before the real thing. Everything is probably full right now” he informed.

“Well, I will stay up all night, wandering around, that’s not a problem” he complained.

“Good idea!” he snarled “Let’s wander around Blüdhaven at night being Damian-Fucking-Wayne! Who will notice?! Or better yet! Just do it like Robin and go on solo! Sure Bruce-Brilliant-Batman doesn’t find out!”

“I got it, I got it! Gosh!” he hissed “But where do you think I’m staying?! Richard’s flat is probably closed and though I could open it, I doubt it would be a good idea if the neighbors notice it”

“Yeah… That’s true…” he sighed “Well… I… I have a bed under the main one… You can sleep there”

“If you say it, Drake…”

“I prefer you here than wandering in the city and be killed by Bruce later for let you do that alone…” he shrugged “Come on, I’ll lead you to the room so you can leave the bag there”

Damian nodded and followed Tim through the little corridor to the room at the left, which was the bedroom. This one amusingly, like anything in the flat, was very neat and clean. Damian left the bag on the bed while Tim was taking out the other bed that was under the main one.

“You took lunch before leaving, right?” Tim looked at him, frowning.  

“Yes”

“Okay… Then I only should make more for the dinner and buy some things now for just next week” Tim sighed “Do you prefer to stay?”

“I don’t mind going shopping” he just said.

“As you want” Tim said “Can you leave the room a second, then? I’m going to change my clothes”

“Sure” And Damian abandoned the room.

The door closed behind him and he let out a silent sigh.

Since he had gotten inside the house, he had felt the atmosphere heavy and cold. Clearly, Tim was still upset and was not going to forgive him or the others easily. Somehow, that bothered him a bit. However, if he really looked at it, it seemed that he only was getting him to get Bruce well, not to win forgiveness. And, in any case, wasn’t he still annoying? Why should he be bothered? The important thing was to get everything how it was before Joker attacked, not anything else.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I know this is a little shorter but I want to give you the story in shorter chapters and publish more. That way you won't get bored xD Anyway... To Leosworld, Jacobra and the so many guests out there... Thank you so much for giving this story an opportunity! I hope you like the chapter so far... just saying, everything will be a bit slow so we won't see the good stuff until a biiit later. But you will, no worries! Promise promise! For the moment, the story goes in the drama part because there is something that needs to be repaired before but... you will see all the genres (humor depends, it can be funny for me and not for you but that doesn't count hahaha). Ehem, in any case, thank you so much! Please, as always, comments, follows and kudos are very much appreciated! See you next week (I hope!) :)


	3. Chapter 3

He waited for Tim to come out and when he did, he followed him to the exit of the flat, watching Tim catch the keys before leaving.   
For a moment, Damian felt like asking him to go inside his flat again because the silence was torturing him for the first time in his life. As much as Tim had agreed on helping, Damian couldn’t help the feeling that he was kind of obliging him or something similar. Somehow, it was making him feel a chest pain and he swallowed. He couldn’t bare it anymore.   
“Drake” Damian finally said after fifteen minutes of silent walking. This one looked at him with interrogation “You hate me, right?”   
“What?” he said with a little surprise in his voice.   
“I mean… You have all the rights to hate me, I was always awful at you. Well, Todd was too. I just…”  
“Damian… I… I don’t hate you. That’s a big word. I sometimes dislike you, for what you tend to do. Or, well, tend to did at least. But I don’t hate you. Or Jason” he answered, looking at him weirdly “Why the question, anyway? You’re the one that hates me, if I recall well…”   
“… Just curious” he finally said, looking to the ground.  
Tim raised an eyebrow slightly and looked like he was about to say something but he just let it go, thinking that he would surely figure it out later.   
They finally got to a mall and once inside, Tim started getting everything he would need for that week, taking the things in silence. For a second, Damian was surprised because the little times he had gone shopping, with either Richard or Pennyworth, had been full of dull conversations, trying to socialize with him in a stupid way. Tim was just putting the things he was taking in the shopping cart and walking slowly with calmness. Even if he never had liked Richard and Pennyworth when they would talk too much or make comments about the food section, at the same time, this freaking solid silence didn’t help him to feel better or to relax. While with the others there was a dull chat, with Tim there was this type of silence that could be cut with a knife. But, he didn’t want to interrupt again for the fear of making him mad before getting his help in Gotham. And he really needed all the help he could get, so he swallowed everything and just followed him into another corridor.   
“Tiiim! Hey!”   
Both Tim and Damian turned around just to see a girl, of brown curly hair and dark blue eyes, going to them. She was short, slim and had a big smile on her face.   
Damian kind of sighed in relieve. At least, there would a break from that silence.   
“Hi, Agnes…” Tim gently greeted her. And really, it was like staring to another person “Buying?”   
“More or less; my parents are. I’m just here to get out of home. I was getting sick of studying!” she explained and then she fixed her eyes in Damian “Who’s this cutie-one?”   
“I’m not…”  
“He’s Damian, Bruce’s son” Tim interrupted him quickly.   
“Oh… So, the little brother. He’s cute” she smiled brightly.   
“Heh, yeah…” Tim just agreed, though he was thinking that Damian could be a lot of things, except cute “Well, we have to keep buying. Besides, I have to make dinner for both of us”   
“Don’t worry, we can meet another day. Well, this was not a meeting but you get me…” she shrugged “Oh, Jonathan told me that you better get out with us one of these days or he’ll kill you”   
“We’ll see about that” Tim just smirked “Have a good day, Agnes. And be careful”   
“I’ll try” she said “And goodbye to you too, Damian”  
Like that, she left jumping whistling like a happy girl.   
“You have weird friends, Drake” Damian commented once the girl was out of his sight.  
“And you haven’t even met the rest” he snickered “Come on, let’s get out of here”   
They finally got out, paying everything, and arrived at the flat at five. Since they had a lot of time before dinner, Tim was starting to wonder what to do to pass the time by because they had already saved the things that they had bought in less than five minutes. Or what to do until tomorrow, now that he was thinking about it.   
“When will you leave?” Tim asked, curious.   
“Tomorrow by 12. It’s the bus I took for return” he answered.   
Tim sighed, a bit relieved. So, he only had to give the ‘brat’ dinner today and breakfast tomorrow. Well, he could live with that. Not knowing what to do, least even what to talk about, he went towards his laptop and turned it on. He could use the hours for preparing the work for Monday, it was better than not doing anything. Suddenly he noticed Damian looking at him, frowning.   
“I’m going to do my work. You can do whatever you want” he informed.   
“Tt”   
Now, that was something Tim hadn’t missed too much but he ignored the child and soon he noticed that Damian had disappeared from his sight and he let out a sigh. While he was looking at his documents that he had to prepare, Damian came again. Peeping a bit, he saw the demon child with a book in his hand (one of his shelves) and watched him sat on the sofa, opening the book.   
The hours passed and at nine or so, Tim got up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. He hadn’t cooked a lot when he was younger, but he had learnt how to do it when he got out of Wayne Manor for the first time in years. He wasn’t Alfred, that was for sure (and he had to add that it was impossible to come out like him), but he was good enough. At least, he didn’t burn the food like Bruce. Tim smiled when the thought of his adoptive father cooking passed his mind.   
Letting out a sigh, he put the steaks he had been doing in two dishes, put two glasses of water and made a little salad in a couple of minutes. He took everything to the table and then went back to the living room. For just second, he just stared his ‘brother’ for a couple of minutes before deciding to speak out.   
“Damian… dinner” He said. Damian looked from the book and got up, closing it.   
They ate the dinner in silence, which it could have been noticed if the TV wasn’t on. When they finished everything, Damian just left the room going to the living room again and Tim went to wash the dishes and everything they had used. This was starting to get him on his nerves and he wasn’t sure if he preferred the silent Damian or the demonic child that he had left in Gotham three years ago.   
He grimaced a bit and went back to his laptop, seeing that he had a message from Dick that said to contact him once he had read it. Tim wondered about it but decided to contact his big brother through the platform and made a video call. Dick responded in less than a minute.   
“Tiim! Hii! How are you going?”   
“Hello Dick” he smiled a bit and noticed that Damian was now looking through his book with interest “I’m fine. How are you with the Titans?”   
“Oh, I’m fine. They just miss you” he said, all awkward “So… anything new?”   
“You should be the one knowing. I’m sure you know all the situation” Tim said, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.  
“So sorry for that. How’s he behaving?” Dick tried to smile, embarrassed.   
“Surprisingly good” Tim admitted “How’s the mission going?”   
“We’re a bit lost right now, but I’m sure we’ll figure out a way. I can always contact Oracle if not” he answered.   
“I’m sorry for leaving it out to you, Dick. I just wanted…”  
“To be on solo for a time, I know. We all end there some time in our lives, don’t worry. How’s the city, by the way?” Dick smiled with nostalgia.  
“Quiet for now. I’ll call Batwoman or someone to take care of the city once I’m out, don’t worry” he informed.  
“Thanks, that would be great. Take good care, Tim. And please… save Bruce”   
“Of course, Dick. Have a good night”  
“You too. Don’t stay awake too much!” he advised and Tim smiled a little. Waving his hand to say goodbye, he closed the conversation. Looking at the time, he was about to turn off the camera when he received a video call. From Bruce “Shit. Damian, go to my room. Now”   
“Tt, make me Drake”   
Seconds later, Damian bit his lip for saying that. He really hadn’t intended to say it and actually, he wasn’t mad or angry at him. It was most at himself or at the others. It seemed that everyone knew that Tim had been in Blüdhaven all this time except for him and he didn’t know if he was the one to blame or the others for not telling him.   
“I have no time for this. Your father wants to talk to me and if he sees you here, we’re both dead”   
“Tt” He clicked his tongue. But, thankfully for Tim, Damian left the room though he made sure to get out of there as loud as he could.   
“Demon child…” Tim sighed and then went to respond to the video “Hi, sorry. I was finishing a conversation with Dick”   
“Where’s Damian?” Bruce asked.   
“Huh?”   
“I know he isn’t with Dick. I checked by satellite his phone that they’re still on the mission they were doing and the only person that right now is in Blüdhaven is you, so Tim… where is he?”  
“…In my bedroom” he sighed “You want to talk to him?”   
“Don’t bother, I will talk to him when he’s back. What’s he doing there?”   
“Just something personal. I can’t tell you, sorry. Just don’t worry, he has behaved very well for the moment, okay?” Tim just answered, because lying to Batman would be a suicide “I’ll be fine”   
“If you say so… Be careful anyway. I’m here if anything happens” he said, a bit worried.  
“Sure, I’ll let you know. Have fun and be careful you too” Tim smiled.   
“I am careful…”   
“Sure you are” he smirked “Goodbye, Bruce”  
“Goodbye, Tim”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& To all the guests and the ones that are giving this story an opportunity... Thank you so much! ^^ I couldn't be any happier!   
> Receiving all these notifications, even if they are only kudos, encourages me to do another chapter for you guys and it cheers me up a lot! :)  
> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, please leave your comments or thoughts down below!   
> Kudos to all of you! &&&


	4. Chapter 4

Tim let out a sigh. What a day he was already having. First Damian had appeared after three years, then Dick had decided to call him after months of not knowing a thing from him since he went to that mission and now he had received a call from Bruce, who had called him the most but had stopped for a time. Now he knew why but still… Should he be this angry for all that was happening now? He shook his head, turned off the laptop, the TV and went to his room, where Damian was on one of the beds reading and when he saw Tim, he let out a little snort. In a few words, Tim told him the conversation with Bruce and once he was finished, he looked to the clock.  
“We should get some sleep, anyway” he finished saying.   
Damian looked like he was about to complain but he just left the book he had been reading in Tim’s table and he got inside the bed, followed by Tim, who turn off the light of the room before getting inside of his bed.   
“Drake” he suddenly said.  
“What?” this one grumbled.   
“When will you go to Gotham?”   
“I’ll be there on Saturday after lunch” he just responded letting out a yawn “Now sleep, demonic child”  
“Tt. You don’t have much vocabulary, Drake”   
The night fell with calmness and before sinking himself to the dream realm, Tim peeked a second to the other bed and watched Damian’s chest going up and down calmly. He closed his eyes.   
A body, covered in dark clothes was in the ground. A lot of people pointed at him. Guilty, they said.   
‘It’s your fault, Tim. He’s dead because of you. You left. You left. It’s your fault…’  
‘No… I didn’t mean it… I…’  
‘It’s your fault. Guilty. Traitor. Murderer…’  
“Drake, wake up already!”   
Tim suddenly opened his eyes, his heart pounding very fast “What time is it?”   
“Seven o’clock. And I’m hungry. Make my breakfast” he demanded. His stomach was pleading him to have some food.   
“Give me five minutes…” Tim said, sinking again into his bed.   
“No, I want my breakfast now” he shook Tim “Drake”   
“Fine, I’m going! Jeez!” he got up with a hiss and went to the kitchen, still a bit sleepy.   
He started taking out things: two cups (good thing he had spared ones), milk, cocoa powder, coffee, sugar, some cookies, toasts and croissants… He put the cups filled with milk in the microwave and when it ended, he prepared both: the coffee one for him, the one with chocolate for Damian. He put everything in the table with a yawn and he sat himself in front of his cup, looking very deeply into the coffee.  
He heard a voice in the background and shook the head.   
“Drake!”   
“Huh?” he looked up and blinked.   
“I was just asking at what time should I leave your flat. The bus arrives at 12 in the bus station, remember?”   
“Uh-yeah… Yeah… Well the bus station is a bit far from here. Did you come here walking?”   
“Well, obviously Drake”   
“You think that you could get on your own if I gave you directions?” Tim asked. Damian raised an eyebrow, as if really wondering if he was asking the question seriously “Ok, got it. It’s not really difficult anyway. There’s a bus stop of the ones of the city a few blocks down in this street. You can take there the number 14 and in the sixth stop, you got down the bus. From there, you have to cross the street, keep straight and the first to the left. You will easily see the bus station”   
“Okay, that’s easy. But at what hour I should leave your plain flat?” he snorted.  
“I was going, jeez. So impatient” he huffed “I suppose that you’ll have enough time if you get out of here like at 11. You’ll probably arrive a bit early but better that than late”   
Damian nodded slightly and ended his breakfast. He took his cup and looked just to see if Tim had finished, which he had. Then, without advising, he took the other’s cup and went to the sink to wash them. Tim just watched him, shocked and speechless.  
“Richard and Pennyworth taught me. It seems this is easier than cooking. I have tried that one but I never accomplished anything really good enough” he just said.   
Tim had to suppress a little laugh that was going to escape his lips “Well, I think Jason is the best at cooking, anyway” he said to Damian  
“Yours is good enough, if it makes you feel better” this one muttered.   
“Thanks… I suppose” he smiled.  
“We should do something for Richard once he’s back” he suddenly said after a silence.  
“Why?”   
“According to Pennyworth, people should celebrate birthdays and the persons have to give presents to the person. Richard’s birthday was on March, but he was out”   
“Oh... Well I guess we could do something if he comes back. Though the best present he would ask for would be another family time, but…”   
Both fell silent. Tim, because he knew he didn’t have to explain anything to the boy and Damian because he felt different since that conversation. Now, being sixteen and all, it looked very stupid all the things he did in the past. Obviously, ‘Drake’ was still getting on his nerves, he didn’t know why. However, it was not like before, it was different.   
‘Probably it is all Richard’s fault’.   
A few hours later, Damian was leaving the flat. When he arrived home, he already knew that his father would be at the door. He greeted him more or less normal, he accompanied him to the room so Damian could take out the things of the bag and when everything was in order, his father cleared his throat.   
“Yes, father?” he questioned turning to him.   
“What was the purpose on going to Tim’s flat, Damian?” he looked too serious and Damian knew that his father was thinking that, maybe, he had gone there to make things worse between the only string that would make Tim come back.   
Damian could tell him the truth, he probably should. But he knew that his father would make Tim go away and his chances of recovering would go straight to hell. He probably shouldn’t (and maybe this time his father would catch him) but he would have to test that ability that Todd had taught him to do better (mostly because he wasn’t very good at it).   
“I wanted to ask him what he knew about Richard” he said, before he could think in a lie, scolding himself inwardly “It’s has been his birthday, and Pennyworth told me once that everyone should get something for that day, celebrate it”  
“You just went there for that?” Bruce’s eyebrow frowned in disbelief.   
“I… I wanted to apologize”   
Well, that had been one of his intentions actually but, he had not been able to do it properly. And since he didn’t remember and obviously Drake did, what exactly could he tell to him? It could have been easier if Drake wouldn’t remember what they had said. He had tested the waters and probably Drake didn’t hate him as he had made clear but he was still holding a grudge, that was something that he could tell by his tone of voice when he would speak to him. He deserved it, he knew it; he had been horrible to him. Hell, he still didn’t like Drake at all, so why Drake should behave to him differently anyway?   
“Apologize?” his father looked a bit surprised. Damian nodded “Like face-to-face?” Another nod “Well, that’s good of you, son. Did things got better then, after you apologize?”   
“I don’t know, actually. Drake is difficult to read; he probably still holds a grudge…” Damian shrugged. That was a true statement.   
“Well, you tried at least. That’s something that can be appreciated” Bruce took Damian’s shoulder and squeeze it a bit “But Damian, next time don’t tell me lies, yes?”   
“Of course, father” Damian said and noticed some pain in his neck when speaking this words because he hadn’t told the truth and it hurt him. But it was for greater good, right?


	5. Chapter 5

Next days in Gotham were a pain for Damian: Wake up at seven, go to high school, hold on for long hours to the classes to finish, come back home, homework, practice with his father which it looked like he was making it a challenge (it looked like he was with the League of his grandfather more than with his father), getting out at night (if he convinced his father enough, that is) and chasing people, catch them and leave them to the police (at the same time that he was controlling his father with his eyes, just in case), go back to the Batcave at two if there was luck (if not it would be three or four), go to bed and then all over again. By the time that it was Friday, Damian was incredibly tired. All his body was aching and he had hardly accomplished an improvement with his father.   
Suddenly, a cup of chocolate laid next to his side and he looked up to see Alfred, smiling a bit in an attempt to cheer him up. Taking the cup, he took a sip. He then took two more.   
“Easy there, master Damian. You’ll burn if you’re not careful”   
Damian said nothing, his eyes laid on the liquid’s cup and he swallowed.   
“What if he doesn’t come, Pennyworth?” he asked to the butler. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was afraid that Tim wouldn’t come in the end and that he had lied to him just to get him out of his flat. He wouldn’t know what he would do. He was lost in this situation so badly…   
“He will come, master Damian” he assured. Alfred, obviously, knew what he was talking about “I’m sure he will”   
Damian didn’t say anything and just took another sip of the chocolate cup. It was helping him to calm down a bit and to get some strength, so he just kept drinking in silence, hoping Alfred would be right about ‘Drake’.   
Saturday came and Damian knew that Tim wouldn’t come until lunch or later but really, the hours were going too slowly for him, not matter what he was doing. After lunch and half an hour later, Damian was already nervous and he was just practicing to keep his mind occupied with something. Then, suddenly, the bell rang and Damian, who had been practicing the tightropes, let himself fall to the soft pad that was on the ground. He saw Alfred going upstairs of the cave saying ‘going’ and Damian just followed him to see if it was Drake.  
When Alfred opened the door, he let out a sigh of relief. There he was, Drake. He hadn’t seen him for sure since he was smiling brightly and greeted Alfred without that coldness and hostility that was usually directed to him.   
“I am so glad to see you, Master Tim. Have you eaten well these years?”   
“Yes, Alfred. Thank you, really” Tim answered, still smiling.   
“Good to hear. I had cleaned your room and prepare it a bit. Master Bruce will be down if you want to see him, he will be very surprised, and…” Alfred stopped at the moment walking when he saw Damian “It is good to see that you have come to greet, master Damian”   
Tim laid his eyes on him and a chill passed through Damian’s bones. Not even Mr. Freeze would be able to do that without his weapon.   
“Hello, Damian” And yes, there was that coldness and hostility again.   
“Hello to you too” Damian said back “It is good you have appeared; we have missed you” he just said that with the intention of being kind but he wouldn’t know if it was true or not. Sure, Alfred and Bruce had missed him, as well as Dick, Barbara, Stephanie; but… Had he?   
“I’m sure you have” he just responded “I will leave my bags in my room and I will go to see Bruce then”   
Damian just nodded and since he didn’t want to tell his father (because he would ask him the moment he would go down the cave), he went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. When he saw that Tim was going to go down, he followed in silence. Tim went downstairs and his eyes seemed to gleam a bit when doing it, a little smile curving his lips. Bruce looked up when he heard the stairs and his blue eyes went wide when he saw him.  
“Tim?”   
“Hello Bruce” Another smile. Damian grimaced a bit from behind but he didn’t say a word.   
“It’s good to see you but… what are you doing here?” he asked while he gave him a hug which Tim accepted.   
“I wanted to see you, I have missed you” he answered with a shrug and, though Damian knew that it was not the first reason, he knew that he was telling the truth. Tim had really missed Bruce a lot and probably had wanted to see him, but never came.   
“I have too” Bruce said and even if he didn’t smile, there was truth in his eyes “How long are you going to stay?”  
“I don’t know; I will think about it”   
“And what about your work? And your friends? And Blüdhaven?” Bruce crossed his arms. He was starting to see something wrong in there.  
“My friends can live without me for a while, Blüdhaven is in Batwoman’s hands and my work was temporal, so…” Tim said with a smirk  
“Damian didn’t go there just for advice for Dick’s present and to say sorry, right?” Bruce asked.  
Damian flinched at that, kind of wishing to kill his father with a look for saying that but Tim seemed to have not listened because he sat in the chair with a sigh, not even looking at him and spoke.   
“How much have you slept, Bruce? You look horrible”   
“There’s work to do”   
“I know, but that doesn’t forbid you to take a rest from time to time”   
“Look, I appreciate it but I don’t have time for this” Bruce advised, a bit cold.  
“What happened?” Tim asked serious, not backing off. Bruce growled a bit but Tim didn’t stop to look at him. He finally sighed.   
“We encountered the Joker some time ago. He had escaped and had kidnapped the entire public of a humor show very famous which wasn’t very funny. Damian and I spent a lot of time trying to search them, but it was too late. Most of them were dead, we just saved a few” Bruce explained, almost without expressions.   
“And you feel guilty. Bruce, you couldn’t have known”  
“I should have!” he shouted in annoyance “They’re dead because I wasn’t good enough! I should have killed the Joker right there! Hell, I should have done it years ago!”  
“Bruce…”  
“It’s my fault, Tim! All those deaths are on me!”   
“It’s not your fault, dad” Tim said calm and that made Bruce stopped a bit “You know the one that did kill them. And I know that you feel guilty because you’re Batman and you know a lot of things, but you know what’s to pay for this type of work. And killing Joker? You think that would have stopped that? Maybe that persons wouldn’t be dead, but there would be another villain who would have killed a lot of people, maybe later or maybe different… Bruce, you cannot blame yourself for this. You did everything you could”   
Bruce fell silent, words and images running through his head, like really wondering if Tim was right about that.   
“You should rest, Bruce. At least, eight hours”  
“Five” he negotiated.   
“As long as you rest, fine” Tim accepted, sighing.   
Bruce nodded and went to the stairs in silence and stopped a bit, before going up.  
“Tim?” this one looked to him “Thank you”   
“You’re welcome” he just said, with a little smile.  
Bruce disappeared upstairs, they heard him go up, a room opened and later closed. Tim let out a sigh and looked around the cave.   
“And that’s it?” Damian asked, raising an eyebrow. He felt a little betrayed because he had tried that with his father already once and he hadn’t listened that much.   
“Ha” he snarked “That is only the surface, or maybe not even that. He will fight”   
“At least, he has listened” he pointed still angry, going to the tightrope again climbing the stairs up “Well, unless you’re going to do something useful Drake, I am going to practice here and your presence is not required”  
“Here we are again…” Tim muttered “I am going to look the computer a bit, if I disturb you that much you can either go to the yard or I can leave again”   
“Tt, you’re lucky we need you” he said with a scowl.   
Damian knew that he was paying his anger against the same person he wanted to help him out of this mess but he was feeling horribly betrayed right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& So hello everyone! Hope you have been doing fine! I'm sorry for not posting last time but... good news is that I have submitted two chapters and that way I am sticking with what I said :) I hope you like both new chapters; as you can see things are going kind of difficult right now and this is only the beginning. We will see Dick soon (I think that in the 7th??) and later I will appear the black sheep of the family and let's say that things will go sometimes down. Also, you will learn in some point of the story more about what happened before that made Tim leave and on the other hand, what has happened during the three years that I have jumped. Kind regards to all and have a nice day :D &&&


	6. Chapter 6

There was a sigh from the other. Rolling his eyes, Tim was thinking on saying something, that kid really deserve it but… he swallowed all his words. He would laugh dryly. It was like going again to the past for him, never saying a thing, never picking a fight. It hurt more inside the fact of ignoring the fight that if he would pick it. He turned to the computer, leaving his thoughts aside, and went on a search of the cases that had happened over the last three years. He had to do a bit of catch up. Reading all the cases that Bruce stored, he studied them, noticing than in the last three months the reports were less explanatory than the other cases. He either would have to ask Oracle and see if she knew anything or if she could figure it out or he could ask Damian and see if he could get something; that is, if the ‘child’ cooperate (though he would probably feel obliged to tell him). He first decided to text Oracle (obviously saying to just answer the question and not making questions about how did he come back and so to not waste time and because he wasn’t in the mood for conversation) and thankfully, she was able to give him enough information and evidence of Bruce’s behavior so he didn’t have to ask Damian (which was good because the kid was very bipolar sometimes) or get around him.

He sighed. Who was he kidding? He had to talk to the kid (well teenager, to be precise) if he wanted to fix this. He was the one that was Robin and, as long as he remembered, that was the way to fix things and he needed the cooperation of… Well, of him.

Gosh, what was he thinking when he accepted this? Was he crazy? Or stupid? Maybe both, who knew?

Another sigh. Well, there was not going back now and he had already made the trip here. The only thing… He didn’t have to talk to the him right now, just before the patrol.

However, and though he knew that Bruce got well during his stance as Robin, he wasn’t sure what exactly made him got better, so he had to ask the actual Robin to go and trust him in something he wasn’t even sure. And apart from that, he needed everyone’s help, which he wasn’t sure if he could get. Sure, some would help him on this but, how many? And what if this time it didn’t work out? What if Bruce didn’t get well?

The hours passed and Bruce completed his promise entirely, sleeping exactly five hours, but went down to a very heavy training that could be noticed in the sweat and in his looks while doing the exercises, not even taking dinner. Damian now understood why Tim had said that accomplishing that, was nothing. It was obvious that there was still work to do.

The dinner between the two brothers in the table at Wayne Manor was the weirdest thing that they had done in years, and yes, they had had dinner before in Blüdhaven but there Tim had put on the TV, so the silent had gone unnoticed. Now it was clear that neither of them had something to talk about and the only thing good about the dinner was the food, that was delicious. On the one hand, Tim was thinking how he should bring that topic and wondering if it was worth trying to talk to him. On the other hand, Damian was just thinking if while they were taking dinner, his father would continue to kill himself on the training or go patrolling alone, so he was eating as fast as he could.

At the end, when they were nearly finishing, Tim cleared his throat. Damian had the temptation to not look but he did it anyway, raising an eyebrow.

“I… He is probably going to patrol tonight; you know?” Tim said, and felt stupid seconds later. What a way to start…

“Yes, I know. I am trying to go as fast as I can” Damian scolded.

“I didn’t mean that exactly. I mean that he’s probably going to go alone and… I know you know that” he spoke before Damian could form the words “but you will have to convince him to let you go with him. And I don’t mean something like ‘you need me’ or ‘I can help you’”

“Then what, Drake?”

“Something very emotional, heartbreaking, light-bringer… Anything as long it doesn’t include ‘I’” he answered, ignoring the tone that Damian had put before.

“Why?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“You won’t win Bruce in that, less in this type of days”

“Drake, we both know that I’m not good with expressing feelings” he murmured, enough to be heard.

“You will have to be good or think of something that can be true”

“Any suggestions?”

“Think with your heart” he shrugged.

“That’s not very helpful”

Tim said nothing. He couldn’t say a thing about that because it was true: it wasn’t helpful, but it was the way of doing things with Bruce in that kind of days. And even that, he wasn’t sure if it would work. There were a lot of ways and that was the problem.

When they finished, both went down and saw Bruce just in that moment collecting all his things.

“Are you going out?” Damian asked.

“Yes”

“Can I go with you?” he asked and Tim looked to Bruce from behind.

“No”

“Why not?”

“I can do this alone”

“But… You promised me” Damian said, the only thing that popped into his head that didn’t start with ‘I’ and could be true. He made sure to have a face of pity to make it more real, something that he had copy from Dick.

“Damian…” he tried to say, but Damian didn’t back off “Fine, you have a minute”

Damian disappeared at the second and took only 40 seconds to prepare himself; he took the motorbike while his father got himself on the Batmobile, turning on the car. Before Damian went to the exit, Tim went near him.

“Keep your radio on, just in case” he said, and like that he disappeared into the cave.

Damian raised an eyebrow but didn’t have time to ask because his father was already exiting so he followed him and exit the cave.

There was something beautiful and yet deadly in the nights of Gotham. The lights illuminating the city were something beautiful, the sirens of the police cars were something deadly and the people crazy enough to be out at night were a mix of both. At the same time the things that were beautiful could turn deadly and the deadly into something beautiful. It was, in any way, confusing and yet everyone love it.

Following the Batmobile, Damian felt like asking his father where the fucking hell they were going because at least, he had to know, right?

“Damian, are you reading me?”

‘Damn you, Drake’ he thought “What do you want?”

“You’re going against Black Mask; he’s been running some lovely business selling fired weapons among the poor neighborhoods to start some wars between bands” he informed.

“Why you tell me?” Damian asked.

“Asking Batman won’t do yourself a favor, he would probably only get angrier” he answered.

“Won’t he hear this?”

“I’m good at my job. Now, listen to me. This gets trickier”

“How so?”

“Doing this is about faith and trusting, I think that you don’t have that traits”

“Seriously? Faith and trusting?” Damian scolded.

“You want your father back to normal, no?”

“Yes, Drake”

“Then, I need you to do as I say” he warned.

“… I hate you, Drake”

“I know”

Following Tim’s instructions during all the patrol was, more than painful, strange. Damian didn’t like to follow orders (less if they came from him) but he was trying to follow them as best as he could. Sometimes he would order what Bruce had said, sometimes the contrary. By the time they were done with Black Mask and his gang, Damian was very tired and his body was like screaming from the pain. Going to the vehicles that they had left in an alley, his father and he shared a look. Damian was really expecting him to yell for not following some orders but he just glance at him and after a while of complete silence, his father spoke.

“Let’s go home”

And like that, he entered the batmobile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& I'm so very very sorry for the delay. I've been with too many works in the university and I've been having some mental issues too these past weeks. Also, I know I'm only posting one chapter (I should post two after making you waiting) but I wish to correct some minor mistakes that I have and I want this story to be good. As you know, this story is going to be really long so that's why is taking time to see some real action. >< Gomenasai! I know is taking time but please be patient with me.
> 
> Any way, I hope you're enjoying the story. Thanks to the last people that gave kudos and as always, you're invited it to add it, comment it and so on :) Have a nice day and see you soon! &&&


	7. Chapter 7

Damian let out a sigh, relieved that he wasn’t going to be punished, and got himself on the motorbike. Then, he followed his father back to the cave, hearing the sirens of the cops behind in the scene they had left. When they reached the cave, they only saw Alfred there to receive them. Damian was fast enough to change his clothes and went upstairs, jumping some, leaving Alfred to take care of his father.

Not knowing where to look, he decided to go to Drake’s room and see if he was there. Door was closed but Damian didn’t even bother to knock before entering.

“Hi Damian” Tim said, not very surprised and still looking at the screen of the laptop.

“…Drake”

“Good job”

“Tt, obvious” Damian said “Will it work?”

Tim bit his lip for a moment in thought and let out a sigh.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. It’s hard to say and there are too many things that can be done as Robin that could help him get better. He could be easier this time because it’s not something that has to do with a family member but it’s still the Joker so…” he responded.

“So… You don’t know if he even will be himself again?! That’s what you’re telling me?!” Damian almost shouted.

“It’s not like that. He will be himself again one day and I know some things that can work… but your father is not the easiest person in the planet. This could take months” he sighed out of desperation.

“Tt, I hate waiting. And I don’t know if we have that much time” Damian huffed, sitting in the bed of the other.

“Don’t worry, we will get Bruce well again. In no time, Dick will come again to Gotham, so being more in the house trying to help him will make him some good”

Damian looked like he was going to speak but chose to stay silent, not finding enough words or vocabulary to express all that was in his mind. Above all, he was more than tired of this and he couldn’t help but hate everything right now.

‘I hope no one can read minds because… Jeez, I miss Richard right now’ he thought, laying on the bed for a moment while he was watching Tim typing in his laptop.

He was a little astonished that he was observing Tim trying to analyze him more as a person than a threat like all the other times. He overworked too much, to say the least, he also was very clean in everything except his table, which was full of papers, games and notebooks here and there. In cases, he usually went with a plan (three steps, if not more, ahead of it) and he was seen by mostly everybody as the perfect child: loyal, skilled in the same arts than Batman and a detective. Above all and a thing that annoyed Damian to death was that he had Batman’s trust. Of course, Dick had it too but he had been more time with his father so it was normal. ‘Drake’ had been like what? He had been from 13 to 17 or so with his father in the house and gained his trust while himself he had been since he was 12 maybe and still… he was sure his father didn’t trust him a bit.

He noticed his eyes going down and forced himself to blink a few times, trying to find the strength to get up, not really succeeding.

“Damian, you can go to your room, you know?” he heard Tim saying, while he was trying to keep himself awake “Damian?”

Tim turned around to look at Damian and saw him lying on the bed, still awake but very tired. A soft smile crossed Tim’s lips and got up of his chair. Being now again the shortest, he didn’t think carrying Damian would be smart so he took the boy by the shoulders and leaded his head to the pillow, so he would rest better. Damian didn’t fight it and let him do that.

“Drake?” Damian mentioned, sleepy.

“Sleep”

It was all he said, before Damian would finally fall into his sleep.

When he woke up, he saw in a clock that it was seven a.m. and glancing the room, it took him a few seconds to recognize that he wasn’t in his room. Looking at the table, he saw Drake lying in front of the computer, his chest going up and down. He bit his lip a little, feeling guilty and embarrassed for falling sleep but… in some way, it was worth it. He was sure that in one of the moments, Tim had smiled truthfully. Anyway and despite that, couldn’t have he gone to some other room to sleep properly at least? Unless he fell asleep while he was working, which was very possible.

Sighing, Damian got out of the room carefully and went to his room for a moment to take his katana, and then went down to go to the yard. He loved to do that every morning when only Alfred was up or around the house. Taking a deep breath, he started the sword dance. Later he took breakfast, and repeated the process of yesterday. Good thing was that they didn’t go out that night thanks to Tim that said that it would be a good idea to take the Sunday as the ‘research day’. The day went smoothly and they stayed up together until 1:00 a.m. where Alfred stepped in and told Damian to go to sleep because he had school tomorrow. Damian, fuming all the way up, did as told though not without complaining in Arabic, Japanese and every language he knew as loud as he could.

On the other hand, Tim stayed with Bruce one more hour until he started to feel asleep and contained a yawn. Tim looked to Bruce for a moment, like pondering if he should go to bed and leave Bruce alone or not.

“I won’t go anywhere today. It’s too late and I think today we’ll have a peaceful night. You can go to bed, Tim” Bruce said suddenly, surprising him.

“I… Okay. Good night, Bruce” Tim got up of the chair and went to the stairs until his feet reached his bed and he climbed up to sleep. He crossed his fingers, hoping he made a good decision in trusting him for now.

The next day and around five in the afternoon, they received a great surprise that put Damian in good humor (which was strange for Tim to see, even though he knew that Damian and that person had a great relationship). Alfred had gone to open the door and after, he accompanied the person to the living room where the other three persons of the house were. The smile of the person kind of lit the room.

“Hi… It’s good to be back”

“Richard!” Damian exclaimed, and went towards him. Then he stopped in front of him and smiled a bit, giving his hand.

“No way!” Dick said and like that, he hugged his brother. Damian didn’t move for a moment until he returned the hug slowly “It’s good to see you again, Dami”

“Tt, obviously Richard” Damian waved off when he was released, making a smirk. Dick smiled too.

“Hello Tim. It’s good to see you again, out of screen that is” Dick greeted to his other brother.

“It’s good to see you too, Dick” Tim smiled softly and accepted the hug that this one was going to give him “Are you going to stay?”

“For the night, if that’s okay”

“It’s always fine, Dick. How the mission ended?” Bruce approached him and greeted him with the hand, which Dick accepted.

“All good, everything was solved”

“I’m glad of that” Bruce smiled.

They spent part of the day talking together, until Bruce decided to go down to the cave saying that he had to practice. Tim followed him, quiet mumbling that he needed that too. Damian let out a sigh and Dick run his hand in his brother’s hair affectionately.

“How’s Tim going with Bruce?” he asked when they were gone.

“I’m not sure, he just began helping the other weekend. Sometimes it looks okay, sometimes I just don’t know” Damian said, eyes worrying.

“Hey, don’t worry. Tim’s good with Bruce. He’ll just need Alfred’s support and mine, maybe other support…” he mentioned looking at Damian, who just raised an eyebrow “What? Just saying, seriously. Bruce is very difficult and while Tim can handle Bruce, he might end in bad shape. But, hell, that’s why I’m here”

“You do realize that is possible that he’s mad at you because of the conversation that happened three years ago, right?” Damian frowned.

“He’s mad. I know he doesn’t look like it but he is. He has turned into a good liar, I think that Jason is just better than him because, unlike Tim, he lies to us without thinking twice. Tim doesn’t lie unless he thinks it is necessary to do so” Dick said with a sad smile “I suppose I can tell he’s mad because I have spent more time with him and I have known him for long”

Damian just shrug, not really knowing what to say and without any comment and after half an hour, he stood up of the armchair and headed for the Batcave, Dick following from behind.


	8. Chapter 8

Three years ago…

_It was too hot. Way too hot. They all knew that summers in Gotham were difficult but the weather was almost unbearable. And adding that to the thing that they were without air conditioner, it was way worse. Thankfully, Bruce had a pool outside in the garden and mostly everyone was there, trying to stand the sun of above._

_Inside in the water there was Cass, Steph and Dick having fun and playing around while on a beach umbrella Bruce, Jason and Barbara were playing cards. The other three (Alfred, Damian and Tim) were in different parts of the house. Alfred was making lunch in the kitchen, Damian was in the other side of the garden playing with his animals and Tim was inside the house somewhere far from the sun and the hot._

_After half an hour or so, Alfred called everyone and these ones went towards a table that was outside in the back part of the house, not too far from the swimming pool. The table had been put with a lot possible of food for the summer, which included various types of salad as well as some other dishes that weren’t hot, with the exception of some steaks._

_“That was so great! You have to pay me later for winning against you so many times!” Jason said with a smirk when he sat on the table._

_“I won’t pay you thing until I get my revenge in this game. I’m sure he has cheated” Barbara commented with a huff, looking to Bruce._

_“He hasn’t. He did play square and fair. But we never bet anything, so there’s nothing to pay” Bruce assured her._

_“You didn’t want to bet!” Jason complained._

_The rest of the family just made a knowing smile and started eating calmly. When finishing, everyone started to take things to the kitchen to help Alfred a bit on his house chores, leaving the things in the sink or the dishwasher. When done, most of them left the kitchen except for Dick, who was taking the broom and the picker, and Tim, who was in the sink cleaning some of the stuff that couldn’t be put in the dishwasher. Soon, Dick left the kitchen with the stuff he had taken and only Alfred and Tim were in the kitchen. This last one, sighed._

_“Something wrong, Master Tim?” Alfred asked, while cleaning the kitchen countertop._

_“… Not really. Well, I don’t know for sure. It’s… complicated” he said after some minutes._

_“Do you mind to share?”_

_Tim bit his lip for a second and looked at him before speaking again “Jason has been behaving strange these past two years. One second he likes me and he’s by my side and all that and the next second, he’s teasing me and provoking me. And I know that some things are just… light jokes, but… from time to time, he drops something harsh and I just don’t know anymore. It doesn’t have any sense at all!”_

_“Perhaps Master Jason doesn’t know how to express his… brother feelings towards you”_

_“He does fine with Dick, so no. It’s not that. It’s something else. It seems he’s saying that things on purpose but I just don’t know why! Did I say something wrong? Or did something? He’s making a mess in my head. How am I supposed to deal with that?! I give him opportunities and the benefit of the doubt, but he only makes things worse! He just behaves well to me sometimes, when I skip some meals, whenever Bruce gets angry at me or when I’ve been hurt. Rest of the time, it’s like seeing another person!” he explained in a rush._

_“Maybe you just have to give him time. Or ask him why he’s doing that. Master Jason is maybe different from all of you but he does care for everyone” Alfred answered._

_“It doesn’t feel that way…” Tim whispered._

_Since he had finished his chore, he dried his hands and left the kitchen without commenting something more to Alfred, who sighed slightly._

_Outside in the swimming pool, the rest were there taking advantage of the good weather. Jason was just lying on a towel covered by a beach umbrella when someone got closed, making him opened an eye. He saw Damian just standing there and Jason rolled his eyes. Damian was the only one in the house that was wearing a t-shirt and some blue shorts, because the rest was either in the swimming suit or at least with less clothes than him for sure._

_“What? Are you just going to observe me all day, Batbrat?” Jason finally spoke “I mean, I know I’m beautiful but you’re not my type”_

_“Tt, your physical appearance is not that incredible as you think, Todd” he clicked his tongue._

_“Did you want something?” Jason ignored his comment and looked up to him, raising part of his body to do so._

_“… I was wondering why the sudden change towards Drake. Not that I’m complaining, actually it makes it easier, but as much as I know you liked him”_

_“I have my reasons. You don’t have to know” he shrugged._

_“You still protect him sometimes, though. Are you bipolar or something similar, Todd?” he asked, crossing his arms to his chest._

_“Look, kid. I do what I do because I can and I want to get something of that. It’s better that way than whatever we have right now” he said, lying on the towel again “Why the questions, anyway? Are you concerned of him?”_

_“What?! No! He’s insufferable! And he’s not needed, he’s incredibly useless and we could live without him!” Damian shouted, completely red “I don’t know why he even is here!”_

_“Ha. You don’t fool me, kid. You like him, you’re just jealous and you feel betrayed when you see him with your lovely father. Believe me, I’ve been there” Jason snarked “But… some of the things you have said I hope they come true… For his sake…”_

_“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you make no sense saying ‘for his sake’, as if that matters at all. And I have no jealousy or such feelings. I’m better than any of you” Damian walked away, totally pissed off._

_Jason just shook his head, but bit his lip for a moment. Was he doing the right thing? Was there still time to fix everything?_

_He knew Tim was going to hate him, if he didn’t already. He was having too much patience with him and Jason kind of wondered how long would it take until he got him out of the mansion._

_‘What if I don’t get what I want? We know this is like a drug, so… Will he leave for real? Will he leave everything he has known for so long behind?’ he wondered._

_However, if his plan didn’t work out, gaining Tim’s trust back again would be more difficult than winning the lottery. Tim would hold grudges to people that had hurt him in the emotional way and he could be quite bitter and cold towards them. He didn’t look like the type of getting mad a lot, but he was like the storms of Gotham in summer: strong, fast, cold and hard. Of course, he himself was short-tempered and Bruce usually referred to him like a big fire explosion, but Tim was different when getting mad. His anger could last longer than anyone on the family, including Bruce and that was saying something. But, at the same time, he also could forgive easily to some people and just from time to time. There wasn’t a patron really and that was unnerving._

_And let’s not talk about how much everyone (except for Damian maybe) was going to hate him for making him leave everything. Dick would never forgive him, for starters. He would still talk to him, Dick couldn’t leave anyone behind or alone even if he was pissed with that person. But, he would hate him for doing that, for pushing too far. Barbara didn’t like him too much or well, maybe she did but sometimes it was difficult to say. In any case, with that, he would get her even angry with him. Steph and Cass would be similar than Dick, though Steph would not even direct her word to him if he does that while maybe Cass would stay out of any trouble or any conversation that could hurt any party involved. They would hate him still. And, oh Bruce and Alfred… that was going to be quite a show and it was going to hurt him more than anything. Hell, he had spent years trying to mend his relationship with Bruce and he was going to send everything straight to square one again. And Alfred, though he never would put himself on any side, he wasn’t going to approve his attitude and less even his behavior towards Tim. He almost felt guilty about what he wanted to do but he swallowed hard._

_‘I hope he forgives me one day. That everyone does one day. Or at least, understand why I want to do it. I just… this is for the best, Timmy’_

**& && I know, I know... But I posted two (?) I'm really trying, things have been difficult. I just recovered a bit from my mental issues and feeling so much better now ^^ Anyway... I hope u like the chapters, the story and so on. For seeing the romance, the road will be kind of long (sorry for that, just the way the story is -but my otp will appear, so... you'll forgive me ^^'-) The rest I think that I'm doing what i promised xD **

**As always, please comment the story, kudos, bookmarks and lots of love :3 (There are already 400 hits o.o)  
**

**P.S.: Thanks a lot to Vivi and Lil of FF, who are the ones that take more time in reviewing this story! You are the best! &&&**


	9. Chapter 9

Going down to the Batcave, both Dick and Damian heard sounds of panting, movement, and objects flying. Bruce and Tim were in a space big enough, in the middle of a fight. Actually, it looked more like Tim was avoiding most hits of Bruce as best he could.

“We aren’t dancing, Tim” they heard Bruce saying and when they reached the final stair.

“If we were dancing…” Tim offered up, avoiding a punch from Bruce and trying to hit the man, failing “One of us had to be at least in a dress. And since you have the cape right now and I am just in tights, I think the only thing we can dance is ballet”

Dick smiled a bit for that but bit his lip, worrying a little for the situation. Bruce was far better than any of the robins, and he was afraid that Tim would end hurt. However, looking at Tim’s face, it was like he was trying to get it somehow. That didn’t stop Dick from being horribly worried, and being prepared to stop both if the situation got too bad.

“You won’t avoid me for too much long, Tim. Give up” Bruce said when Tim avoided a hit for the eleventh or twelfth time.

“Thanks, but no. This is more fun” Tim grinned.

Anyway, Bruce was right that Tim would not avoid him for long. He had more experience and Tim was just trying to make him tired or to make him take out all his strength in the game so later he wouldn’t punish the criminals too much.

After a couple of long minutes, Tim was on the ground being held there by Bruce. Their eyes met for a second and later, Bruce stepped back.

“Get up and take a shower, Tim” he said, and went towards the computer of the Batcave.

Tim’s smile only grew and after some seconds or so, he got up of the ground. When doing it, his eyes landed in both Dick and Damian and he raised an eyebrow before deciding to go towards the stairs passing between them and going up. If both Damian and Dick were honest, they had noticed their own bodies shivering when Tim had passed.

“You noticed too?” Dick asked quietly. Damian only nodded “I suppose I deserve it a bit. I wish that I hadn’t disappeared to take the dessert”

“It was not your fault. Todd and I are the ones that started annoying him” Damian said “Besides, I think he is more bothered by the thing that it looked like you were protecting only to Todd and I”

“Oh” Dick let out “I just… I was just trying to calm things down and avoid the shouting. He knows that I protect each one of you”

“He maybe didn’t felt it that way and to be honest, Richard, it didn’t sound that way. Not that I remember word to word but… I know how it sounded” Damian shrugged.

“I should probably talk to him. I really want to make peace with him” Dick sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Then go”

“I will, not today though. Have you make peace with him?” he asked, curious.

“Not really. Not that I deserved it right now. I’m okay if he wants to hate me for the rest of his life, I just want this fixed” he crossed his arms to his chest.

Dick, with a sad smile, gave him a little hug “Oh, Dami…”

Damian didn’t say a thing and just let him did whatever he wanted.

“Richard” he said after a while.

“Yes?”

“…Would you stay in my room, for tonight?”

“Sure, Dami. Though I thought you said last time that you weren’t a child anymore and you didn’t need that things”

“Shut up and don’t complain”

“Yes, sir” he smiled.

When Damian woke up in his room, the first thing he noticed was an arm around his body. Peeking a bit, he saw Dick totally asleep. A little smile curved his lips and he decided to get up when he saw the time and went downstairs, encountering Alfred at the middle of the stairs.

“Good morning, master Damian. I was just going to get you up right now” he said “You have your breakfast at the table”

“Thank you, Pennyworth”

When he got down, he greeted both his father and Tim with a little morning and sat at the table where his breakfast was.

“Damian” his father called and this one lifted his eyes “Yesterday there was a little incident involving the line of buses and since the police are interrogating every worker, there’s no bus today”

“Then?” he asked, knowing he was not finished.

“I have a reunion that Lucius says is too important so Tim can take you” he continued and then looked at Tim “If you don’t mind”

“Of course not, Bruce” this one said

“Perfect. I have to go. Behave yourselves”

And like that, he left.

Damian stood for a moment in silence, wondering if better asking Dick to take him or beg to father to let him go by himself because he knew how to drive (a thing that was obvious thanks to his training). But, another part of him wondered if his father wanted to help him in his obvious impossible mission of being forgiven. So, even if he preferred to drive there alone or ask Dick, he decided to stay silent. Just in that moment, Dick stepped into the kitchen.

“Good morning” he offered with a smile and went towards Tim, who was taking his cup to the sink “Can we talk, Tim? In private, if possible”

“Sure. Make it fast, anyway. I have to carry… Damian to his school”

“No problem. Don’t worry. Shall we?”

Tim let out a sigh and he followed him. Dick leaded his brother towards a living room that normally it was empty.

“Okay, we are alone. What is it?” Tim asked.

“Uh… I really don’t know how should I start but… You know I love you, right?”

“Yes, Dick” he sighed out of desperation.

“Ah, hell. I’m sorry, okay? I’m really sorry. Very sorry” Dick spat out “That time, during Christmas, I should have said something better than that. I was… I heard you shouting and I didn’t want anyone to start doing it too and… I know that the sentence sounded bad, it wasn’t my intention… Is… Ugh. This is really difficult, Timmy”

“Dick…”

“And you know? You have every reason to be angry. Hell, I would probably be angry if I were you. It’s… It was difficult to treat with them for me too. I know is not a good excuse. Damian had a lot of troubles and you know how Jason works. I… I just thought that maybe they could behave themselves a bit or that the things that were saying weren’t true, that they really didn’t think that. I don’t know” Dick swallowed, sadness in his face “I wanted to talk the next morning but you were gone and I really haven’t wanted to open the topic during our little conversations through the screen. I… I don’t know what more to say, Tim. I’m really sorry that you were hurt”

“Dick… You’re right. I’m mad, I’m still mad. It looks stupid, it has passed like, what? Three years? But it looked like everywhere I went, everyone was against me somehow. I know that they have troubles. Hell, I have read their files, studied them… That doesn’t make me forgive them or forget what they said. They treated me awful. Not only that day but in general. And I may be angry at you protecting them, but I was angrier at them. Every fucking time someone says ‘Tim, they had a difficult life, try to understand them’. Or ‘They had a difficult family’ or ‘They were revived’. I really get it. All of it. But… the only thing they are or were doing is taking that opportunity just to make bullshit. I was done of being played, mistreated… I was done with them. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I’m sorry it exploded in Christmas. But I’m not sorry on leaving, Dick. And I can forgive you for that, I know that you’re telling the truth but… give me time, please”

“Of course. I’m sorry, Tim. It must have been difficult”

Tim shrugged and looked at the time.

“Well, I should carry the demonic teenager to his school. We don’t want him to be late” Tim sighed.

“Sure. Be careful. We will talk through phone or screen at least if it takes you too much, right? Since I will be back to Blüdhaven in a month…”

“Don’t worry. We will still talk from time to time if that happens. See you later, Dick” he smiled and walked through the door towards the exit door, were Damian was waiting, already dressed “Shall we?”

“Yes” Damian responded. 


	10. Chapter 10

Tim took some keys and going outside, he went towards a red car. He opened it and Damian stepped inside in the front seat while Tim went towards the driver seat. The drive to the school was mostly in silence except for the radio news that were filling the car. Damian set his eyes to Tim, watching his hands in the steering wheel and his eyes scanning the road. He supposed he should say something and take advantage of the opportunity that his father had put it so easily… But he didn’t know what to comment. He didn’t know what to say. Above all, he knew he didn’t deserve it.

“…Thanks for coming, Drake” he finally said.

“Huh?” Tim raised an eyebrow “Oh… You mean that other thing… Sure, it was nothing. I’m sure that you would have preferred that it would have been sort out in a different manner, instead of feeling obligated to get me”

“Drake…”

“You know; I’m surprised that you thought it. Ha. Surely another way of fixing Bruce would maybe convince you better. But you turn to me. Heh. This city has a weird sense of humor, making me come back and making you go to me. Anyway, once that Bruce is well and once he is ready, I will be gone”

“You could stay if you want to… Father would appreciate it. As well as Gordon, Richard, Brown, Pennyworth…”

“Quoting you, I would say that they can live pretty well without me” he stated and Damian’s heart flinched at that.

“I was wrong. They can’t” Damian finally said and for a moment, Tim looked at him surprised “Richard doesn’t say it out loud but he is a horrible liar. The first months he wouldn’t either go to sleep or sleep well, then he would go drinking… I think he still is. He was all the time blaming himself. Todd started to go reckless when you were gone, wouldn’t listen to anyone. He doesn’t speak to us no longer, except in occasional times. Brown was stupid all the time, she ended leaving patrol to the Birds of Prey and Cain because she couldn’t be out anymore and she was hurting everyone including herself. Father acted rather quieter than normally. Before this whole thing of Joker happened, I mean. Gordon… I am not sure, she looked overall sad and hurt, but never say a word. I think she was mad at Todd and me; she had every right to be. Cain was less talkative… Should I follow?”

Tim felt silent for a minute, not knowing what to say and still looking at the road, seeing that they were almost at the high school.

“What about you?” Tim finally asked and Damian noticed that he had been a bit afraid of asking that.

Damian thought it for a moment, not really knowing. More than anything he had missed fighting with him, he had missed his bitterness… He had missed Tim’s honesty when he would shout at him. Most of all, and only admitting it to himself, he had felt less insecure with Tim around. So, when he was gone, he was all the time trying to prove himself and never knowing if it was enough.

“I don’t know” he said instead.

Luckily for both, the car had to finally stop and Damian got out of the car, taking his bag.

“I’ll pick you later, after the classes” Tim said in a low voice, not even looking at him.

“Okay” Damian responded and he closed the car’s door and went towards the high school, biting his lip with worried eyes.

There was something in his heart that Damian wouldn’t know what it was, but it was making his chest ache. Was this pain a punishment? Because he was sure it hurt like hell.

The classes to him passed very slowly. At his side, he could watch his two partners of table; one of them (the only girl with a scholarship in his class and the only one who wasn’t like all the other girls that were hypocrites) with earphones probably listening to heavy metal and the other just looking to the blackboard (a shy rich boy which the only thing that was different was that he liked guys). At lunch, while taking the food to a table, he heard a sigh and he turned.

“You’re more silent than usual” the girl said.

“Really Acker… When am I not silent?” he scoffed.

“And surnames again. I thought we had passed that phase already. What’s wrong? You had a bad day?”

“No. Not really. I just don’t know. I feel strange” he admitted.

“Is about your other brother? The one that was going to come?” she asked tentatively.

“No. I mean, yes. Hell, you’re making me look stupid, Ally” he hissed.

Ally laughed at that and made a sweet smile.

“Sorry, it wasn’t my intention. Rick is better at making you talk about this stuff. You work your magic, Rick”

“I don’t do magic, Ally” This one said softly.

“Gosh, sometimes I forget that with you I need a hearing aid because I’m getting old” Ally made an exaggerated gest that got Damian a little smile.

“You want to talk about it?” Rick said to him, a bit louder than before.

“…I just feel lost. And stupid. And too preoccupied. And angry. I feel a lot of things whenever he’s around. I feel that I’m just dumb or bipolar” Damian admitted having a seat and fixing his eyes in the food.

“Why don’t you tell him? What you feel, I mean. The truth and that” he asked.

“I suppose —and if you tell anyone apart of this group I’ll kill you both— that I’m afraid” he said.

“Wait a second, I’m betting that all the stupid girls would be very interesting in that so wait a sec, I’ll tell them every secret” Ally said sarcastically.

“You’re acting stupid” Damian said, trying to stay serious.

“Bah, you like it when I do it. Besides, knowing us, you should know that we won’t tell a soul” Ally shrugged.

“You could just spit it out” Rick commented to him.

“Says the guy who didn’t admit his love for him like a month ago and just because I insisted” Ally remarked.

“Ally!” Rick blushed and Damian laughed. Both friends turned to look at him, seeing Damian with a cocky smile.

“Oh, look at that… We could make you laugh” Ally smirked.

“Shut up Acker” Damian advised, though he was still smiling and his friend didn’t buy it “And Rick is right, even if he doesn’t take his own advices too”

“You really love to mess up with me” This one said.

“Just sometimes” Damian shrugged “I suppose I could try. Say everything that is in my mind” Ally made a smile and winked to him.

The time passed and after all the classes were finished, they walked out of the door. Ally, as always, was the first on leaving when she saw a bus going to its usual stop. Tim’s car appeared just a few seconds later and Damian turned to Rick.

“Your butler is going to get you, right?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“Technically. But I don’t know” he answered

“Call him and ask him” he stated and went towards Tim’s car and opened the door just a bit “Can you wait a second?”

Tim opened his mouth to complain but let out a sigh “Sure”

Like that, Damian closed the door and watched his friend talking on the phone to his butler, a bit red-faced and with his eyes fixed on the ground. He finally saw him closed the phone and Damian crossed his arms.

“He said that he was taking my parents to a conference and that if I could take the bus better” Rick answered to his silence.

Damian sighed and opened the car’s door again to talk to Tim “Can we take my friend to his house?”

“Yes. Come on, get inside” Tim just said, mostly because he was tired of waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& Okay, okay... I know I'm incredibly late with this, but I've been dealing with the last exams of university and the weather here is so horrible that I have gotten into fevers a few times already thanks to so many changes on temperature. Good thing is... I have a lot of chapters of this story done (like until the 16 or so) so I'm going faster that I thought... Also, I know this story is going slow, but I promise you... there will be fun (or fun for me, I guess?). For the moment, you have to deal with a lot of drama family (maybe I should change one of the genres?)
> 
> Also, the dialogues of Rick were made on purpose more little than the rest of characters because he really talks in a low voice, but the freaking page of AO3 doesn't seem to let me do this so... yeah... imagine is more little than the rest and done. And yes, Rick and Ally are mine and only mine.
> 
> Now, this aside... To all the people that added this story or the ones that comment and give kudos... Thank you so much!! I'm glad you're giving this story an opportunity and I hope you're still enjoying it! As always, I encourage you to comment whatever you feel (you can throw me tomatoes too xD), keep adding this story, tell your friends... anything so this keeps going! Have a nice day you all! &&&


	11. Chapter 11

Damian nodded and made his friend enter in the back seat and then sat at his side, closing the front door before that and then the other. Rick presented himself to Tim in a low voice and gave indications of how to get to his house. He then turned to Damian, all blushed. Damian made a cocky smile to his friend but said nothing.

Tim could notice (and sometimes see) that Rick was really into Damian and this one, didn’t even look bothered by that. In fact, he seemed relaxed.

After two minutes of complete silence, Damian started to comment about some group work they had to do (the only thing that Tim caught was that it was about Biology). Rick responded him naturally —still in a low voice— and started to give some ideas that they could work in it. Damian would sometimes disagree in a point but most times he would agree with him. When they reached the street that the boy had directed to him, he looked to the boy for a second.

“Here is fine. My house is right there” he pointed towards it “Thank you for carrying me”

“Don’t worry about it” Tim stopped the car and smiled to the boy.

“Okay. We’ll continue talking about the work on the social web with Ally then, Damian? She should know about the ideas”

“Of course, don’t be stupid” he said though he smiled “See you tomorrow, Rick”

“See you” he smiled and before he could open the door, Damian reached him for just a second to later just kissed him in the cheek softly. The other blushed completely “H-have… have to go, bye” And Rick got out of the car as fast as he could.

Damian saw Tim raising an eyebrow, before he started to drive again, going up street. Damian sighed, getting tired.

“What, Drake?” he asked finally, a little blush spreading on his cheeks.

“Nothing. Seriously, Damian” he answered “Just… I didn’t expect that”

“Tt. Really, Drake. It was just a kiss in the cheek. And anyway, aren’t you with that alien, that’s all the time around you?” he crossed his arms to his chest.

“I consider him a friend, Damian. Nothing more. He’s always with me because he’s my best friend, if you must now so badly” Tim commented, a bit annoyed.

Damian bit his lip a little, knowing he had screwed up again and looked away.

“Sorry” he mumbled.

“Did… Have you said sorry?” Tim asked surprised.

“Yes, Drake. I’m sorry” he emphasized, a bit bothered.

“I didn’t expect that either” he commented.

“Well, obviously Drake. You have been out for three years. Surely you didn’t expect me to stay the same” Damian snorted.

“Well, your personality has stayed intact. That’s a start” Tim joked, which got him a little smile from Damian.

Getting his eyes back at the road, Tim thought that he needed to go to a psychiatrist because he probably had gone mad. Did he really see Damian smile?

Although, he was right on something. Tim had been out of Gotham and out of reach for three years and things could have changed. In fact, he was sure that this was one of the changes and he wasn’t sure how to deal with this ‘change’.

When they got home, Damian just disappeared in the house when he heard his father talking to someone that, obviously, wasn´t Dick. He went where the disturbance was, seeing Jason pointing to his father as he could. He looked pissed and Damian imagined it was because he was being held with ropes against his will.

“It’s not your business, big man” Jason hissed, giving up on trying to escape.

“You’re making it my business if you keep it like this. You’re trespassing rules” Bruce reasoned and a second later he was cutting the ropes that were holding Jason.

“Oh, guess what, old man! That’s what you’ve been doing for these three months. And you could have trespassed more rules if you didn’t have that kid in your butt for you!” he shouted

“That’s enough, Jason. You have to behave yourself. Or the next time, I won’t be there to your rescue”

“No one ask you to” he huffed.

“Good you’re still as dumb as always, Todd” Damian interrupted from the door, entering the living room.

“Well, look who’s here… The little demon…” he crossed his arms.

“Tt, so imaginative, Todd”

Damian took some books, being followed by his father’s eyes, and went to leave again.  

“Oh, Todd… Someone is back. Just in case father didn’t tell you anything. I believe he’s in the kitchen” he mentioned and walk away.

“Who’s back?” he asked, lost.

“…Tim…” Bruce sighed.

“Timmy’s back? Heh, I suppose I should say hello. Because I can do that, right?” he smirked.

“Be careful” Bruce advised but let him go “I’ll be down if anyone needs me”

“Copy that, old man” he said before leaving.

Jason directed himself to the kitchen and first he saw Alfred, who greeted him with a little sigh and, in a chair, he saw Tim, cup in hand. If he had to bet, he would say that it was coffee. And, on a corner, he saw Damian too. What was he doing? Was he going to stay for the show? Was he going to ally with him just for the fun?

“Well, well… hello there, Timmy” he smirked.

Tim looked up and for a moment, Jason stopped walking to him, as if he was paralyzed. He probably shook it though, because he went towards Tim anyway.

“Hello Jason” Tim said.

A cold air seemed to pass the whole room and Jason’s shoulders went up as he was protecting himself. If he was going to mess with him or to make a prank, it all die in a second.

“How is that you’re back?” he decided to ask, smile not going away.

Tim just shrugged, got up and let the empty cup on the sink, passing near Jason “I just wanted to”

“I kind of suppose that, but I mean… did the old man ask your help? He surely needs to cool a bit” he mentioned rubbing his neck.

“More or less” Tim said, a bit cold.

“Oh, come on Timmy. Don’t be that cold. You’re not that mad, are you?” Jason approached him and was going to put a hand on his shoulder but it was stopped by Tim, who had turned to face him “Ouch! Hey!”

“Let me clarify this, Jason. I need more than a ‘friendly approach’ to forgive or even forget everything. So, word of advice… don’t get me mad or angry if you ever want to win forgiveness. You won’t do it in a day. Now, if you excuse me, I have things to do” he pestered, released Jason’s hand and got out of the room.

“What the fuck is wrong with him?!” Jason cursed.

“Master Jason, language please” Alfred mentioned.

“Sorry Alfie, but seriously. When the kid turned stronger than me? He almost cracked my wrist!” he snorted.

Alfred made him sit in one of the chairs “I believe that master Tim is not only angry about the thing that happened three years ago, but also about you and master Damian always messing with him. At least, before”

“And Todd, you should know that Drake is stronger than you. He is just not holding on anymore” Damian mentioned.

“So… all the times I have won…”

“He wasn’t trying good enough” Damian shrugged “I would follow his advice, anyway. Not only because he will crack more than your wrist but also because we need father in his right mind, and he seems like the only one who can get that. Besides, it would be childish”

“Man, you’re not fun since you turned sixteen” Jason smirked a bit.

“And you, Todd, should start growing up” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& Sorry, just a chapter this time because I'm still struggling with one that has too many typos xD Anyway, things are starting to get harder in our lovely family and you just have to wait I think that two or three chapters to have some action!! As always, favs, comments, kudos, following, love... all is appreciated!! Also, if you have a story of this fandom, you can spam it to me in private message because i want to read more good stories of this fandom :) Thanks for reading!! &&&


	12. Chapter 12

Jason made a little smile raising his eyebrows and Damian sat at his side, taking the cup of tea that Alfred offered him returning the smile.

"How are your classes going?" Jason decided to ask.

"Plain and painfully boring. And Tätterhält is going to be back to school soon"

"Right… that kid had messed up with your friend, no?" he mentioned

"Yes. Although, I must say that last time he ended with a surprise"

"Why?"

"We saw him at the beach, he tried to took my friend… My friend slapped him"

"Hahaha, men… That had to be awesome!" Jason laughed.

"I didn't expect it; I must say" Damian added "But it was good to see it. Tätterhält is—well was, to be precise—a freaking stalker and deserved the slap. He couldn't accept that my friend has already move on and that he's not going back with him"

"He would have to be very stupid and I doubt that he is such a fool" Damian shrugged to that and made a little sigh "So, have you finally done it? You know…"

"…Not really" he answered avoiding to look to Jason, blushing.

"What's that supposed to mean, baby bat?" Jason was now raising an eyebrow.

"Stop calling me that, Todd. And… I just kissed him on the cheek"

"Weren't you trying to guess if the feeling was corresponded or whatever? With that, you'll only kill your friend for sure" he snickered, ignoring the first comment.

"I already know that, Todd. I just… I'm not that confident. Or maybe I am but I lose it when it comes to feelings…"

"Sleep on it. You'll tell me if you do it" he winked to him "I'm surprised that you wanted to follow my advice, though"

"Why is that?" Damian raised an eyebrow.

"Black sheep of the family here. Sure it's a good thing to listen to me"

"In this case, you gave me a better advice than father or Richard" he snickered "So I just preferred to follow yours"

Jason laughed at that "Man, you're horrible"

Damian smiled slightly at that.

Dick sighed completely at the situation they had now. He had told the truth to Tim but he also knew that until now, they had done nothing to get it better. It had been three years and though being angry for what happened did look a bit stupid, he understood Tim's position entirely. After all, they had only contacted with him now that they needed him and it really looked horrible if he thought about it.

'We're horrible human beings'

But also, Dick knew that above all he had been afraid of confronting him because… yes, Tim had been right about them. It had been usual of Damian, who always would had ended up messing with him, but him together with Jason to non-stop…

Now… He knew Tim wasn't actually a soulless person and he probably would forgive them with time… but he also knew that they didn't deserve it… Not really, anyway.

"Hey, Dick! What are you doing shopping? Or in Gotham, for that matter?"

Dick turned on his heels and looked behind him. There he saw Barbara and Cass with shopping bags and kind of surprised. He smiled slightly to them, a bit embarrassed.

"Hello girls!" he greeted them "Alfred asked for some help to buy a few things and well… I'm in Gotham to help them a bit with Bruce"

"I didn't know you were going to come, you could have message me" Babs pouted a bit "How are they doing?"

"Ah, more or less fine… We have started just some days ago so I'm not sure but… What about you, girls?" he answered

"We're fine, controlling the areas that Bruce gave us. Stephanie has been doing better lately, so that's a start" she shrugged to that

"You should tell her that Tim is back. She probably will be glad to hear it" Dick commented

"She also will be a bit afraid because it is hardly ever a good thing when he does that…" Barbara sighed.

Dick smiled sadly to that but knew that she was right. However, he really thought that Steph would get better if she knew that Tim was already back in Gotham. And maybe she could do something about his obviously coldness towards them. Steph and Cass were the only people in the family that could get out and not see his freezing façade.

Dick looked slightly to the time on his watch and seeing that it was a bit late already, he waved the girls a goodbye and promised them to call them another day. Barbara nodded to that and said that she deserved a good recompense and took Cass's arm to leave towards another corridor.

A few rooms up and away, Tim was in his laptop trying to write the last reports just to finally let out a sigh annoyed as the memories of the past came to his mind and since he couldn't concentrate, he decided to go to one of his games and see if one of his friends was online. He could use the talk very much.

When moving to Blüdhaven, he had made a little friendship with a group, between that group the girl that Damian had met while shopping. He had met them thanks to one of his co-workers that loved games just as much as him, probably more, and from that, he had met with them from time to time when he was free or when Red Robin wasn't needed, which was difficult because Blüdhaven had a lot of problems during night. But, anyway, staying with the group had been nice and Tim had loved the friendship of them.

"Hey, Connor. I knew you would be playing" Tim greeted through the microphone.

"Look who's talking, I was going to say the same" he complained and Tim laughed, a little smile coming out "How are things in Gotham?"

"Dark and cloudy, mostly. Nothing new. And I don't know if I'll find something in Gotham to work. Speaking of which, how are you doing?"

"Meh, passable. Mostly bored without you and I think even the boss misses you. We had some problems and it was difficult to fix them. But hey, things are fine, don't worry" he mentioned in a calm voice "I need to head to the tower to stop some demons or spirits, can't remember. You help?"

"Sure, I already passed that one" I said, while 'following' my friend to the spoken tower.

"And your brothers? How are you doing?"

"Not sure, I'm still pissed at them sometimes. Is that bad?" Tim sighed.

"I wouldn't know, you have the right, you know? But it's been three years, Tim… would it be so bad to give an opportunity to them?"

"I gave them a lot in the past and look how that ended!"

"Tim…"

"I know you're right… I mean it, but… It's difficult. How can I give them an opportunity again when all the other times I did, they wasted it?"

"I don't know; I suppose you're right but… You could regret not doing it now" he said.

"I suppose. I… I'll try" Tim swallowed.

"Okay, great. How about we destroy these demons now?"

And Tim laughed at that, sighing a little 'yes'. When he was finished, the stress that he had had before, wasn't there anymore and after helping his friend and waving a little goodbye, he was able to finish writing the reports and he smiled proudly. Well, that helped a lot.


	13. Chapter 13

Later, that night, they (Batman, Robin and Red Robin) went out. And it was one type of that night were in Gotham it wouldn't just rain, but pour. They usually called them the worst nights because, most of the times, the water would help to clean the crimes, the sounds of the thunders would help to hush the victims crying for help and the lack of light would help the criminals to sneak in places or to run away without being seen. Thankfully, Batman had been in this city for a long time and he knew every tactic to take criminals down, whatever the weather was in the sky.

Both Robin and Red Robin were following his dark figure in the sky, not saying a thing even if they had questions to where they were going. But, when they see the Iceberg Lounge, their questions faded. At least, the one that concerned the place. Why Batman wanted to talk with The Penguin, that was another question.

Entering inside, Batman got near the table where The Penguin was drinking from a coup of glass and with a lot of girls around him.

"Batman?!" he almost shouted.

"Not here for you, Cobblepot. Have you heard from Scarecrow? He's planning something big. I need to know"

"Jeez, I don't know what…"

"Don't try my patience here, Cobblepot" he interrupted, voice darker and grabbing the Penguin by the jacket in less than a second.

"Hey! Now, that's rude!" he tried to say, but it sounded more like his lungs were asking for air.

"You'll know what's rude if…" he got angrier and pulled him up far from the ground.

Robin panicked a little but, before he would step in, Batman stopped when Red Robin put a hand on his shoulder. Batman grunted, but put The Penguin on the ground again. Still, he didn't let go of him but Red Robin didn't seem to be paying attention to that too much.

"How's your business going, Penguin?" he asked, casually. This one raised an eyebrow and Robin looked to Red Robin, raising an eyebrow.

"Quite well, thanks for asking pretty bird. Now, if you could keep Bats out of me…"

"Sorry, I cannot control him" Red said with a little smirk and sitting in one of the chairs like he was making himself comfortable "But, it would be nice if you give us that information. Especially knowing that your business goes so well right now…"

"You bird, don't threat me!" he shouted almost going to him, but the glare that Batman threw him, made him stay where he was in fear.

"I wasn't, just a fact" Red said calmly and Penguin looked at him warily "We could have taken you out if we wanted and put someone here we could trust better or move better, you know? So, I suppose you owe us a bit there. We're letting you do some business that aren't really legal. Believe me, you're not that important even if you want to think you are. How about you tell us what we want to know and we're gone? Does it sound good to you? You seem to be losing clients right now and we can be here all night long…"

That wasn't true and Robin knew it but The Penguin was already looking around and he clicked his tongue, seeing that the people were leaving due to Batman's influence.

"… Fine. I'll tell you if that gets you three out of here" he said exhausted and let out a huff "I know a very little part but it should be enough for all of you. I only heard that he had found some new component that he could create with other chemical products, but he needed some equipment before expanding it because his wasn't enough. As much as I know, he has to take it this night at one o'clock in the harbor"

"You know what it does?" Red asked.

"No idea and I'm not interested. But I guess that it gives fear, like always. Though, there were rumors… That he was teaming up with Pamela"

"Ivy?" Red raised an eyebrow.

"That's what I heard. Now, out. I already told you what you wanted"

Once they were out, Robin looked to Batman, expecting him to say or comment something but he just hurried them into taking their vehicles to stop some crimes before heading to the harbor.

They were able to stop a couple of number of crimes before they ended in the harbor at half past twelve, waiting for the Scarecrow to make an appearance. That is, if they were lucky and Penguin had heard well the hour. But after some minutes, they were able to see him. Well, them in this case. It looked like Penguin had heard right because Poison Ivy was next to him. From their point of view, they would be lucky enough to hear their conversation.

"What time they supposedly come here?" Ivy asked.

"At one. There's fifteen minutes left yet" he mentioned "I told you that we would be too soon"

"So sorry for not believing you, Jonathan…"

"I don't mind or care, Isley. Just with you to pay you for the help last time…"

"Right" she smirked "You have to admit this will be fun… And I know a lot of things about botanic and toxic plants…"

"Yes, you've been quite useful. Anyway, this should help us both in our lovely crimes so let's not screw up"

"Obviously" she agreed.

After waiting that fifteen minutes, Ivy and Scarecrow were able to stay with the equipment for just a few minutes, because Batman decided to attack them just in that moment and both villains, surprised by the appearance, made their way to escape from the hero. This one started to go and hit both villains, not wasting time and not even ordering and just expected that his comrades would follow him in getting the villains down, which they did reluctantly.

First minutes were fine and they were fighting against Scarecrow and Ivy with ease but time passed by and Batman started to get tired and began to walk between blurred lines, where it was difficult to define good or evil actions, getting sometimes closed to cross it in some occasions. This alerted Robin and Red Robin, that shared a look, and went towards him, trying to get him again to the safe line.

"Boys…" Batman warned.

"You're starting to trespass the line, Batman. Your head is no clear enough" Red said.

"We are not going to discuss that, Red Robin. I have my head just fine! So just…"

"Please, Batman… Listen to us. Please" Robin said this time.

Batman seemed to glare both but he let his shoulders down and decided to listen this time. Which made things easier since, after some minutes or so, they were able to stop Poison Ivy just in time. However, Scarecrow took this opportunity and he was already escaping from the scene. Both brothers went to persecuted him, telling Batman to stay there until the GCPD would appear to take Poison Ivy to jail again and to take the artifact somewhere safe.

Meanwhile, both brothers followed Scarecrow to a building that was pretty abandoned and that had an opened gate. Both recognized it as the old Arkham Asylum. They shared a look before entering the abandoned place. When they entered the hall, they had to blink a bit to get used to the total darkness. Trying to listen and pay attention for any sound, they started to move around the place until they heard someone going downstairs. Damian went to where the stairs were, looking down and seeing that it was darker. He noticed Tim behind him and decided to take a lantern on his hand and started to go down.

The place looked like a mess: corners full of mold, the railing rusty and some of the stairs had some stains that were probably blood. Suddenly, there was a sound of an opening door upstairs and both fought a shiver that wanted to come out of their bodies. They prayed it was just the wind.

Still going down, both looked at how the place seemed to have dust even in the less possible locations. The paint on the walls had begun to fade, making the place far way older and it didn't help the fact that there were no windows.

Suddenly, they heard a noise and both turn their heads just to see that it was only just a mouse.

"I hate this place" Tim whispered, hoping the sound of his voice would make him go calmer. Also, the silence and the atmosphere of the place was kind of killing him.

"Technically, that be normal if someone of the so-called inmates would say it, not you" Damian replied "Afraid?"

"I'm just not a fan of this place" he snorted, though there was a little hint in his voice.

Damian was right on this one. Tim wasn't the one that got scared easily but he had always been afraid of the old Arkham asylum. Every time he entered there, even if he was with Batman, it was because some of their 'lovely' friends go in there just to run away and most of the times, Tim ended with a nearly heart attack (or just with a lot of anxiety and stress), which wasn't good for his health (or for himself, for the matter). So, yes, Tim really hate the place and feared going inside or staying inside for more than necessary.

"We'll be fine" Damian reassured.

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"

Still following the corridor, they suddenly heard noises from some place down the corridor and decided to follow it, passing through some rooms. One of them was opened and was full of dark dry stains all over the room. It looked like it was a room for tortures, which gave them a little thought of compassion for those ones who ended in the room. At the end of the hallway, there were some stairs going down, different from the others. While the others were made of marble, these ones were of rust iron. The way down was way darker than the one to the basement and Tim bit his lip before going down to not lose Damian in the darkness. The subbasement was more little than the hall and the basement above and there were only a few rooms and, obviously, they were occupying less space than the ones above.

In front of them there were two rooms and following the path, there was a hallway going down with some more rooms. They heard a noise at the end of the corridor and they went down until they reached the last room at their left, one that when they tried to open it, it was closed.

Damian let out a sigh before kneeling himself and, taking some gadgets in his hand, he started to work on trying to open the door giving the lantern to Tim so he could open it. Tim held the lantern so Damian could see what he was doing and finally, there was a sound of a 'click', indicating the door opened. Damian just smirked proudly.

He turned the doorknob and just when he did it, something jump of the ceiling making Tim jump a little in his position while Damian had just taken a step back. The thing in concrete was what it looked like a big wooden (it looked like wood anyway) scarecrow that… could move. To make things worse, the wooden scarecrow was quite scary and the thing that it could move wasn't helping to make it look better.

Damian huffed taking some weapons out, prepared to fight.

'I have to give Scarecrow some credit. He really did a great job on this thing' he thought before releasing his weapons to hit the puppet, or whatever that thing is. Because well, if it could move alone, it had to be a robot. Right?

"Mm… Drake, maybe a hand on this thing?" Damian called his attention when the stupid thing just avoided all the objects.

Tim seemed to awake from a dream and paying attention to the surroundings, he nodded to Damian. He knew he'll understand that he wanted him to through some gadgets again. As suspected, Damian took some batarangs again and he threw them to the puppet. This one moved to avoid them and at the same time, Tim had released his own disks to hit where the puppet was going. The puppet tried to stop to avoid the hits but some of the gadgets hit it anyway, pushing it to the ground. Both Damian and Tim took advantage of the opportunity and, jumping the moving scarecrow, they entered the room searching for something they could use.

Tim got near the wall in front of them that was behind a desk and saw that there was a little opening. He tried to push it by force and the wall started to move revealing a narrow passage with some upstairs at the end.

"Damian… there's a passage here. Probably Scarecrow went up again from here"

Damian looked for just a second to the moving scarecrow that was starting to get up and decided to go to where Tim was and both entered, closing the wall as much as they could. Taking the lantern again, they directed to the stairs to go up. The way was full of spider webs and dust and it was very steep.

"I don't remember a passage in the maps…" Damian huffed.

"Probably the director wanted to keep it a secret… Besides, there are probably millions of passages in this building that won't appear in the maps" Tim commented.

"How are you doing?" Damian decided to ask.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't 'enjoy' this place…"

"I'm fine. It's just a building and we face a lot of things worse on daily basis" Tim shook his hand trying to make it less important even if he was having trouble concentrating on something that wasn't his own fear.

"Well, yes but… Drake, it's fine to not 'enjoy'—or whatever you want to call it—this place. We're... we all have our fears. You don't have to pretend you are not scared if you are" he objected.

Tim sighed rolling his eyes and said nothing for a lot of minutes. Keeping the pace climbing the stairs, Tim finally spoke.

"I know that… I just need to concentrate hard to not let the fear consume me… And we really face worse things than going inside abandon buildings"

"Maybe. But... Just tell me when it gets too difficult to concentrate, okay?" Damian said.

"Fine"

Damian sighed at that and continued to follow the other through the stairs. Maybe it had passed three years and both had changed somehow but there were still things that were obviously still there, not matter the time. As Damian had noticed, Tim still had his problems of giving up control. He needed to control the things, even his own fears so, not matter what, he tried to keep himself that way as he was showing now. But, as much as in control he was, Damian could still notice some little trembles in his body and he was clutching his bo staff with his right hand.

When they reached the end, they pushed the wall that was in front of them and opened it. The room that was in front of them was obviously an office, which meant that they were back in the hall.

"This must be the director's office" Tim commented, looking around the place "Come on, Scarecrow shouldn't be too far"

And Damian obviously saw the nerves and panic in Tim's voice and motions when he went for the door, almost too quickly.

"Red..." he followed him outside the room, going to the stairs to reach the first floor. Tim kept walking and climbed the stairs as quick as he could.

"Drake" he said this time, trying to call his attention. But it was no use, he was just not listening "Timothy! Would you stop now?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& I am so so sorry for taking so long! I've been dealing with Amino communities all these weeks + the university and the works and my social life
> 
> Anyway... I bring you here in compensation two chapters instead of one and I really hope on having one of the requests by this week 'cause it has taking me forever to write it (goodness, I'm so tired T.T)
> 
> As always, favorites, follows, kudos, reviews and etc are always welcome! I love you all and thank you so much for having patience with me! ^^ Have an incredible day! &&&


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& This chapter is dedicated to one of the best persons in the online world that I've found. Even though we haven't met face to face and not counting our so many discussions that we have had, there's no one that is better than you. Three years, almost four, have passed already since we know each other and I can't stop feeling grateful of having a person like you in my life: I think that I'll never have so much luck finding someone so thoughtful, honest and really comprehensive without boundaries. I hope you have a great birthday wholehearted, because I think that there isn't a person that deserves it more than you do. Thank you very much for always being there, Angela.
> 
> Your friend,
> 
> Gin &&&

This one stopped for just a second, trying to keep his composure as much as he could. He was at the verge of tears but was trying to contain them. He was too old to cry like that, he was not a child.

“Can we continue already?” Tim tried to say, hiding a hiccup because, no, this wasn’t fair.

He was a hero and had faced worse situations (like way worse) than this. It was an abandon building, for crying out loud! He couldn’t (shouldn’t) be afraid and trembling like a five-year-old!

“We should go home. He probably went out anyway while we were down, we will catch him tomorrow. Let’s go home” Damian reasoned.

Tim seemed to think it for a couple of seconds “We would have heard the door if he had gotten out of here. That door makes a lot of sound and can be heard even in the last floor”

“Then, why don’t you wait outside? I’ll be fine and I can deal with Crane, really. Just go home, you’re almost panicking...” he responded.

Tim shook his head “No, it wouldn’t be fair and I’m not leaving you alone with him”

“Dammit Dr--Red! This is not the time, just go outside or I’ll make you anyway. You have no use if you’re panicking and trembling like a stupid child!” He just said it like that, and that got him a flinch from Tim. Damian closed his eyes and wished for just knowing when to shut up.

“Right. I forgot, you really don’t need me except for Bruce. Stupid me” Tim made a little laugh and it sound so fake and so broken that Damian really wished to go back in time to stop himself for making a comment “I would probably just interfere with the great and powerful Damian, so I’ll leave...”

Damian wanted to say something, anything... But no word seemed to leave his lips and he was somehow blocked in his own head. He watched as Tim made it downstairs and observed as he walked through the hall, opened the main door and seconds later, closing it with a bang making the walls reverberated.

“Great, just great. Now he’s upset with me” he cursed.

Sighing, he thought on turning around but he heard a yelp of surprise upstairs and, frowning, he made his way up silently. Some sounds of fighting and he was already raising a brow and making his way towards where the noise was.

Down at his right, he found what it looked like the dining hall and just in there he saw the great villain fighting with his father, and he wondered how Batman had entered the building so silently and when.

Not wasting time, he entered inside and made his way to the villain to help his father and end with Scarecrow. When they finally were able to apprehend him, they made their way out going downstairs forcing the villain to climb down the stairs with them.

“Where’s Red Robin?” Batman asked.

“I suppose he’s down. He... he was having some problems” he answered, omitting the part in which he had said something in a bitter way and had, somehow, screwed up.

He really was hoping he was down because if he was back home, he would have a problem and something to explain to his father probably; something he didn’t really want.

“When did you enter? Red Robin said that the door makes a lot of noise when it closes” Robin asked, instead.

“A bit later after you two. I headed upstairs trying to search him. I found him in the first floor when I already had searched the rest of the floors and was going down to search in the basement” he explained “What about both of you?”

“We headed to the basement because we had heard a sound and decided to follow it downstairs. We encountered down a wooden scarecrow, kind of like a puppet or a robot, I’m not sure which one. The thing is, we found a passage there and follow it, we saw that we were back in the hall and finally, I went up to try and search him” he responded.

Batman made a sound like in thought but didn’t make any more comments.

Fortunately for Damian, Tim was outside in front of the vehicles talking to three cops of the GCPD.

Making their way to them, Damian and Batman nodded to the cops and gave them Scarecrow. They gave their thanks and put the villain inside the car to then leave the place.

The three of them took their own vehicles and directed themselves home. As always, Alfred greeted them with a little smile when they appeared in the cave and asked them if they were going to work more or if they were going to bed. Bruce said that he would work a little before going to rest and Tim just climbed stairs up without saying a word and Damian cursed in a low voice before following him.

Both the butler and Bruce raised an eyebrow but decided to not comment a thing.

“Timothy... please... stop” Damian said when, finally, he reached him

“What do you want?” and Tim was back to his hostility and cold remarks, obviously annoyed.

“I’m sorry about what I said. I just... I was very worried about you”

“You... were?” Tim asked surprised a bit “I thought... I thought you would laugh about it, it’s really a silly thing to fear”

“I already said earlier... We all have our fears” he said “I’m sorry I said that you were behaving like a child but... I didn’t know what to say to make you leave the place”

“No, you... you were right. I was being a stubborn child... I should have trust you a bit” he apologized.

“You have your rights of not doing it” Damian shrugged.

“Maybe but... that doesn’t mean anything. It’s been three years, I should learn to let it go and learn that things can change”

Damian looked at him shocked and biting his lip for a second, he finally said:

“Does that mean that...”

“You have another opportunity to make things right, Damian. Don’t mess it up” Tim smiled a little softly.

Damian looked at him in surprise and Tim kept his smile and softness features that were most of himself more than the coolness.

“Thank you” Damian said softly.

“Well, you didn’t give me much of a choice either, right?” he joked a little, smirking “You have been pretty insistent on being nice to me, quite a change from the spoiled little brat you used to be”

Damian just smiled a little to that and made a little ‘tt’ even if he kept his good humor in the little smile that curved his lips.

“I suppose, though Pennyworth believe that just the part of ‘little’ and ‘brat’ are no longer existent”

“Well, being taught by your lovely mother something had to remain” Tim smirked.

“Very funny, Drake”

“Oh, already back to surnames again?”

“I hate you, you know?”

“I love you too, Damian” he said softly, petting his hair a bit and then going to his room “Have a good night”

“You too... Timothy”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&&Sorry for the wait, I still love you guys. Keep up the love, reviews, kudos, etc. Thank you so much for reading.
> 
> Also, something new: I am going to compromise to read a story you have (if you have one). The story has to be Batman related and can be either in English or in Spanish (I would go also with French but I don't feel that confident with the language -I can try if you ask me, though-). It can be any rating EXCEPT explicit. Truly. Please. No explicits. I'll read a chapter (if it's a long story) or the whole thing (if it's a one-shot) obliged and gave a review or comment at the end. If you have the luck that the story interests me, I will keep on reading, but that will be more without feeling obligated to do so.
> 
> That's all, see you guys soon (I hope)&&&

Four days passed in the manor and that day, all the boys were at home. Sun was bright that day and the manor looked incredibly beautiful in that setting. 

Dick was just finishing doing the laundry and putting the clothes outside when he saw Jason there also, in the balcony smoking.

"You should stop doing that, Little Wing" he commented while finishing his chore, making a big smile.

"I should do a lot of things, Dicky. Want some help?" he let out some smoke and smirked.

"Nah, I have already finished and besides, you do your own chores"

"I suppose that's true" he smiled "Have you seen that two?"

"Who? Dami and Timmy, you mean?" Dick raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that ones. They made peace somehow. I thought you would be the first. Funny"

Dick smiled softly and since he had finished, he got near Jason and sat on the ground, looking at the front sky. The city looked so peaceful from here and in this moment… He was grateful it was on weekend and that they would have time to spend together.

"He said he needed some time and I'll wait until he's ready" he answered finally.

"Ready, huh?"

"What about you? Have you talked to him to make peace?"

"No. He shouldn't be here anyway" he let out some air, bothered.

"Jason!" Dick said, getting up, almost surprised and obviously hurt about that "Don't say that, he has every right to be here. He's our brother, our family…"

"He shouldn't be, Dick" Jason turned to him, annoyed "He shouldn't be! He should be with his family, damn it! We should have protected him, we should have let him out of this fucking family, we should have made sure that he had a freaking normal life, fuck!"

Dick looked at him, astonished with the change of things. His eyes went up and down his figure and opening his mouth, he said with a shattering voice:

"Don't tell me… Jason… were you trying to make him quit? To put him safe?"

Jason pursed his lips in a thin line and didn't comment a thing. Suddenly, Dick started to understand everything in one second. He had known that Damian did it because he was mostly jealous of Tim and he had assumed that Jason was the same stuff, that they both feel inferiors or something. How wrong he had been. All this time… all the fights… Jason was trying to put him in safety from the world that they fought each day.

"Jason…"

"It's your fault, damn. If you had accepted the request of being Robin again, if you had stopped from being so prideful… He wouldn't be here. We could have protected someone from this life, for god's sake!" he hit the balustrade of wood and Dick flinched at the sound "Of course I had to follow a freaking order from fucking Batman, but you still did as wrong as me!"

Looking down to the ground, Dick sat again where he had been and swallowed. He was right. He was absolutely right. He had been a fool that time and there was no denying on it. But… even after that, it had been looked right of him to teach this new Robin things, so this time there would be no mistakes. It had looked right to take care of him, to have his number phone in case he was in trouble or if he wanted to talk… But maybe… maybe all he had wanted was someone to take care of. A little brother to protect since, the first one he could have protected, he hadn't been there. He had turned his back from Bruce and didn't even know he had gotten a new Robin. Was it his fault? Was it Bruce's fault for not making peace before they reencountered again thanks to Tim, mostly?

"Still… It's bad if you behave all the time like this, Jay. I know you have a point. Gosh, you're right everywhere! But… We're family now, you know? There's no going back now. We already made the mistakes we made and this… This is what we got right in this moment. I would very much appreciate if you could make peace" Dick said, a sad smile in his face and some tears falling from his eyes "I just want us to pretend, from time to time, that we are a perfect normal family"

"We aren't neither of that, you know that Dick" Jason just said, taking the cigarette to the ground and crushing it with his boots "And… I will think about that, Dick because… I still believe that there's time for him to get out. Before it gets him dead"

And he left the place entering the house, leaving Dick there in the ground, not looking even to the high beautiful sky that Gotham was offering that day.

When Jason entered, just if like in cue, he saw his two brothers talking in their way to the kitchen. Both looked at him when seeing him. In a second, the atmosphere went down and Damian got his shoulders up, looking slightly to Tim, worried.

Tim didn't seem to notice what he was causing but in any case, he decided to ignore Jason completely and went towards the kitchen. Damian followed him seconds later, peeking where Jason was standing, a bit worried. Jason just smirked a little to him to reassure him he was fine until he couldn't see either of them and let out a heavy sigh.

'Ah… Timmy has always been so cold…' he thought, in complain and leaving the place to go up to his room.

In the kitchen, Damian waited like some couple of minutes until he noticed the coldness leaving Tim's body to speak out.

"You should try to keep your hostility just towards him, Timothy. It's a bit creepy when the atmosphere goes down suddenly"

Tim looked at him, uncertain of what his brother just had said but then remember Jason, he clicked his tongue, with sorry eyes.

"I didn't mean to, sorry. I suppose I don't notice when I do it. Just… please, be patient. This isn't exactly easy for me" he finally said.

"I know. Just… you don't know all the story and you know how hard Todd can be to just say sorry so… be better" Damian said, knowing too well.

If Tim had questions on what Jason could have for story about how he behaved towards him, he didn't voice them.

"I have to go to my room, I have work to do. We'll talk later" Damian suddenly said.

"Sure"

Some minutes later, Dick entered in the kitchen. He hadn't looked first so he didn't notice he had company there. He went to the cabinet, took the box of cereal and turned around with a hand full of them and with his cheeks full with some, chewing. He stopped for a second when he saw Tim looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Dick started smiling as much as he could, still with his mouth full and waved at him with his other hand. Tim tittered at that and chuckled.

"Fimmy, don't vaugh!" he tried to say with his mouth full but it went bad because half of the cereal went out and Tim just started to burst into laughter very loudly "Fimmy!"

Tim couldn't stop and was trying to catch his breath while Dick was trying to eat what was on his mouth to look at Tim between bothered, embarrassed and probably more reactions that were more beneath.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You just looked so ridiculous eating so many!" Tim apologized, still smiling widely.

"You're a horrible person" Dick complained, pouting.

"Hahhaha, I am, I totally am" he agreed, laughing a little again.

Dick pouted a little but he was happy anyway because it seemed that… Tim had forgiven him. And he couldn't be happier and ask for more than that.


	16. Chapter 16

A week after, all the family reunited in the Manor since there was a charity gala hosted by the Täterhält family, since their son had come home again from the rehabilitation. Alfred was the one that remembered to all the event for the whole week so they wouldn’t forget, something that both Dick and Tim found hilarious and that Damian, Jason and Bruce found irritable.

When finally the day come, everyone had its own different humor: Dick was delighted, Tim was calm even if he was not looking for it, Jason was in a bad mood and both Bruce and Damian were between boredom and irritation.

The travel to the Gotham Auditorium was quiet and Alfred left them in front of the door, where inside there could be heard some noise.

“Please have fun sirs and try not leave in less than half an hour”

“We’ll do our best, Alfie” Jason joked.

Bruce shook his head, took a deep breath and opened the big doors of the place. A nice girl dressed in a black dress smiled at them. Bruce just hanged her the invitation and she let them in after reading it. She accompanied them to where everyone was chatting, taking their respective coats, and say to them to enjoy the evening.

The minute they entered, they were mostly surrounded by a lot of women that went to that place and practically kidnap Bruce, who smiled to them as charmingly as he could. Damian was mostly drag by a girl that looked some years older than him and mostly carried him towards a place where most teenagers were chatting. On the other hand, Dick made his way towards a corner where he had spot Barbara, Cass and her father and went to talk to them. Jason just shrugged and looked to Tim but before he could talk to him, Tim was called by some businessmen and making a little apology, he went towards them.

Jason just sighed and decided to go towards the table where all the food was. It had been years since Bruce Wayne had adopted him and this one was sure that he would never be able to stay comfortable between all these people to which he referred to as ‘snobby rich’. There was nothing in the world that would make it better and he still didn’t understand the need of doing these galas.

From his corner, he could spot Bruce surrounded by that women that had taken him towards more people, looking at him totally charmed and Bruce talking to them with that smooth voice he only put out when he was in a social situation. Throughout the years, however, Jason had learnt to see that even if he looked comfortable, he was begging the world to let him be. On the contrary, Dick seemed to be having his fun with Barbara Gordon in one side and the father of the girl in the other together with Cass. Dick was smiling brightly to the commissioner while talking and Barbara had a little flush in her face but she was obviously happy as Cass was. Jason thought that he was the luckiest one of them, having at least someone to who you could talk to that wasn’t insufferable or a total ass.

After some minutes eating some canapés, he took a glass (didn’t give a fuck about what was the liquid), took a little sandwich and went towards the backyard of the place, which had in front a little fountain to the left. While making his way towards it, he was able to catch a glance to his other brothers: Tim was talking to that businessmen all relaxed and with that face he normally used for political things and Damian was talking with some teenagers about his age with a scowl in his face. If he had to guess, the kid was as bored, if not more, as him.

He pondered whether or not saving him but he guessed that being his, technically, ‘brother’ he maybe should make it. He approached the group of teenagers and could hear some girls squealing and giggling when they spot him. Damian decided to turn to see what the noise was all about and raised an eyebrow when he saw him. Jason just smirked.

“Hello to all of you. How is your night going?” Jason greeted.

“...Quite well, thanks” Damian responded finally.

“We were just talking about the new apps in the phones and how he should get them” A girl commented to him with a proud smile “I got a new one which works perfectly for all the social media”

“Yes! We also wanted to ask him the Facebook or Twitter but he refuses to let us know” Another said with a pout in her face.

“Oh, he just likes his privacy girls, that’s all” Jason smirked “Would I able to take him? I need to talk to him about some important family business”

“Of course!” one of them said with a big fake smile “Come back soon, Damian. One of us could really use a dance when they start”

“Sure...” Damian just said and turned to Jason, leaving with him. Finally, when they went out to the garden, Damian let out a happy and relieved sigh “I don’t know why father wouldn’t let me to stay home. I barely can manage to just not kill them in a blink”

“Relax, kid. You’ll get used to”

“Like you have?”

“Ow! That’s harsh!” Jason pouted but there was a smile behind it and Damian clicked his tongue in annoyance “Okay, maybe not get used to it but you’ll have to live with it. Bruce likes it as much as you do and probably the only one who is enjoying the night is Dick”

“And Drake?”

“Timmy? Oh, he just enjoys if he wins something for the business. He’s a freaking manipulator who knows what he’s doing” Jason sneered.

“I hate that theater face he pulls to the media” Damian snorted.

“He has more than that face and some are more hateful” he laughed “But tell him, he’ll laugh”

“Anyway, thanks for the saving, Todd”

“You’re welcome, kid” he smiled “Though, as much as I hate it, we’ll have to get back eventually”

“Don’t remember me. I would prefer to stay here forever if I could. They wish me to dance with one of them but I would prefer to dance with a duck”

“Hahhaha, that’s a bit exaggerated. But I get the point, really I do” Jason laughed “Maybe we are lucky and get a nice normal girl”

“Tell me once you got a ‘nice normal girl’ in these situations, and I’ll give you a price, Todd”

“Good point. But we can dream, right?”

Damian decided just to not answer that question and looked back to the party, Jason doing the same. He flinched when he saw someone and Damian turned to him with a question look.

“Scratch the thing of going back. I prefer dying of cold” Jason commented.

“Why?” Damian frowned.

“See that girl with the pink dress? Has a ponytail?”

“Yes...”

“She’s Catherine Cobb, powerful rich family”

“I still don’t see why you would prefer to die, Todd” he raised an eyebrow.

“Long story short, we had a relationship and she fucked everything up”

“Really? That’s quite new but... I suppose is plausible. Should I ask what happened?” he asked.

“I would prefer to let it be...” Jason answered, with a little sigh.

Damian didn’t push it and just looked to the sky above them that was totally dark, full of clouds and the moon just illuminating a little bit.

They stayed like that for some couple of minutes until, finally, Jason got up of where he was sitting and winked to Damian.

“Come on, let’s go inside. As much as I hate these events, we are still related to Bruce and we need to show a nice image, if not good” he said to him.

Damian nodded slightly and entered inside with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> &&& Yes. I know it's a bit short. Yes, there is going to be action soon (actually, you'll just have to wait one more chapter for it ^^ -yeii me-)
> 
> I decided to go on some brother relationship between these two 'cause it'll come in handy, or at least you will have fun hahah. Oh and... Cobb is just a guest star appearing of nowhere that I just pulled off xD She's not coming back... Unless a lot of people will bunch around in the reviews about her coming back but I really don't care for her at all :')
> 
> What more? Oh yeah, I'll try to post the next one on april so I'm trying to keep up with this story monthly at least ^^" Hope it won't be too hard.
> 
> If you have any ideas, suggestions, etc... You can put so in the comment section! I'll maybe evaluate it and see if I can work with it.
> 
> Next chapters coming: Party still on (17), Half party and half cave (18), Tim's POV on the past (19). 20 chapter is still on the process.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support!! &&&

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the story! You can comment, kudos, etc etc... whatever xD  
> Please, tell me what you think and have a very nice day!  
> A.N.: The reasons of the main characters are because they are my favorite in the comics! I just love them too much :3


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